The Life and Death Struggle between the FDA and GlaxoSmithKline

“Medicine is for the patients…the profits follow.” So said George Merck II, then CEO of pharmaceutical giant Merck & Company, sometime during the first half of the 1900s. Merck, in those days, hoarded cash for investment in research and development and followed a corporate philosophy that focused first on improving the human condition. Merck believed [...]

The Importance of Leadership in Turnarounds

Health care reform, an  aging population, fewer doctors and nurses, more expensive technology, lower reimbursements, increasing compliance costs and on and on. Healthcare providers will be facing an increasingly difficult environment over the next several years. Many will face the need to conduct a “turnaround” or “workout.” Here’s the scenario. Over some period of time a [...]

Tax-Exemptions Under Attack!

Spencer Tracy’s hometown, Wauwatosa, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin suburb has successfully challenged the tax-exemption, at least as it applies to property taxes, of local powerhouse Covenant Healthcare System. The strategy is interesting. Here’s what happened. The City assessed property taxes against one of Covenant’s ambulatory clinics asserting that it was a doctor’s office and not really an [...]

Accentuating the Positive

Much has been written and said about the “downside” of the recently passed reform of the health care “system”. It’s the end of capitalism in America, the budget-busting doom of the country, tantamount to child abuse and, yes, it’s the end of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as we know it. Literally, it’s [...]

One Person’s Expense is Another Person’s Revenue

Last year, while the health care reform debate was raging, the Health Enterprises Network brought the noted Princeton economist, Ewe Reinhardt to Louisville to discuss health care reform. Dr. Reinhardt opened his talk with a discussion of economies. While he acknowledged the differences in ideology, he rightly pointed out that much of the political difficulty [...]

Deja Vu All Over Again

I have commented before on the Humana/University of Louisville Physicians dispute (see Our Entitlement Mentality). Pat Howington’s story in this morning’s C-J yet again shines a light on disputes between providers and health insurers, this time Humana and ULP. (Read Pat’s story by clicking here.) If you have never done so, it’s interesting to read [...]