RWL Newsletter #100
100 - that's a milestone! For those of you who joined me somewhere along the way, this project started as something I was doing for my students. I was the adviser to the Class of 2019 (this year's seniors), and I wanted to keep them engaged during the summer between their freshman and sophomore years, so I started sending them stuff about healthcare each week. The format - read, watch, listen - was something of an accident. After the summer, I decided to formalize it and start using TinyLetter. So that's how we got here. I did take a break earlier this year, but thanks to all the notes of encouragement when I shut down the newsletter, I decided to bring it back. Turns out, having a weekly discipline is good for me.
Thanks for coming along on this journey, and here's to the next 100!
The image above is of me with Michelline Dufort, Director, Center for Family Enterprise and The CEO Forum at UNH, and Heather Staples Lavoie, President at Geneia. I was invited to hear Heather speak at the CEO Forum. What amazing stuff they are doing at Geneia! I'm hoping to have Heather on the Health Leader Forge podcast (which I am also bringing back!) this spring. Keep an eye out for that!
On to this week's links:
Read
What: Medical Economics, Treating Medicaid patients
http://www.medicaleconomics.com/health-law-policy/treating-medicaid-patients
Why: Can doctors refuse to treat Medicaid patients? Yup. From the article:
The provider that accepts a large number of Medicaid patients and makes it work for his or her practice is much like the fabled unicorn: there are rumors that they exist, but no one has actually seen them.
My students are often amazed by this fact. I was talking about it a couple of weeks ago at a seminar on finance that I was teaching. So I thought I would share this article.
Watch
What: Mary Schaefer, TEDxWilmington, Putting the human back into human resources
https://youtu.be/0Mq2TiJmqCI
Why: I was planning to use this TED Talk this past week in my management class when we were talking about HR, but ran out of time. Nonetheless, I like the message - treating people humanly vs. humanely. Treating someone humanely is treating them like a well behaved animal.
Listen
What: Reason Podcast, On Repeal Day, Remember That Prohibition May Be Over, But Its Ripple Effects Are Still Making Drinking Worse
https://reason.com/blog/2018/12/05/repeal-prohibition-dieterle-podcast
Why: I've been known to imbibe the occasional alcoholic libation, so I can't imagine a world where the government makes alcohol illegal. The arguments were couched in public health goals, but there is a sinister underside to these policies - much of the real reason was zenophobia/anti-immigrant sentiment, and racial and ethnic bigotry. This is the risk behind policy. There are always the surface statements for why a group of people support a policy, and then there are the hidden reasons why they really support a policy. Of course there were do-gooders who believed they could use government to change human character, but that rarely works out (see the Great Leap Forward). Bruce Yandle has a wonderful and colorful theory of policy called Bootleggers and Baptists that is worth checking out - I've shared it previously. This is a nice discussion of history, policy, and public health.
Thanks for reading and see you next week! If you come across any interesting stories, won't you send them my way? I'd love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line by e-mail, or you can tweet to me at @mbonica .
Also, if you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
Have a great weekend and do amazing things!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-0598
mark.bonica@unh.edu
Health Leader Forge Podcast: http://healthleaderforge.org
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau