Money Earning

WASHINGTON – Most accountable care organizations, spurred by the Medicare Shared Savings Program, are taking four different approaches to creating new payment models according to a new report sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation promoting a better healthcare system.

The report “Promising Payment Reform: Risk-Sharing with Accountable Care Organizations” prepared by healthcare advocacy organization Catalyst for Payment Reform, in partnership with consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, shows that because few providers or private payers have experience with shared-risk payment arrangements, newly created ACOs models vary both in design and how they define shared risk.

“It is particularly important to note the very early stage of development of these population-based, shared-risk contracts,” the report noted. “We found

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US academic Lane Kenworthy gets a lot into this post.  Is there a viable progressive politics that doesn’t hinge on a strong labor movement? (hat tip Chris Dillow)

And Chris Dillow in his own post points out just how cheap it is for the UK government to borrow.  As he says:

The average yield on index-linked gilts with a maturity of over five years is below 0.4%. When borrowing is so cheap, doesn’t it make sense to do more of it?

ENGLEWOOD, CO – The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) released their latest annual salary survey that showed practice management salaries in 2010 changed little from 2009.

According to the report “Management Compensation Survey: 2011 Report Based on 2010 Data,” administrators in practices with six or fewer full-time-equivalent (FTE) physicians earned median compensation of $86,459, a slight decrease from 2009. Administrators in practices with seven to 25 FTE physicians reported median compensation of $115,000 – an increase of only 0.28 percent from 2009. In larger groups of 26 or more FTE physicians, administrators reported median compensation of $150,756.

“The generally static compensation of practice management professionals reflects the difficult economic environment faced by medical practices,” said MGMA president and CEO William F. Jessee, MD,

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Arrow Electronics will buy back of an additional $100 million worth of shares, the company said Tuesday.

The Melville-based electronics and computer components supplier said that its previous buyback of $50 million in shares announced in February was completed during the second quarter.

The company more than doubled its profits last year, posting earnings of $157.9 million, and last month said it would buy Seed International Ltd.’s distribution business, which will expand its presence in China and strengthen its ties with a key supplier.

In morning trading, shares of Arrow Electronics Inc. fell 2 cents to $37.03.

In London today the Chancellor put the inevitable positive spin on the flat GDP figures, telling us,  “the economy’s growing”. But in Derby on Saturday a different story was told: up to 10,000 people marched in support of the Bombardier train workers, fighting to save the 1,400 jobs threatened by the Transport Minister’s decision to award a £1.5bn contract to Siemens. In our book, train making is part and parcel of the green economy, the low carbon growth alternative that is a casualty of coalition industrial policy mismanagement: train-making, solar power, homes insulation: the list is growing.

On homes insulation, 700 workers at Eaga lost their jobs earlier this year when funding for the Warm Front scheme for energy efficiency was cut by two-thirds and will end in 2013. It will b See full article…