Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Singularity of Health Reform

 

Medicine in the United States is approaching a singularity, the hypothetical future emergence of greater-than-human intelligence through technological means. The occurrence of a technological singularity is seen as an intellectual event horizon, beyond which events cannot be predicted or understood. Proponents of the singularity typically state that an "intelligence explosion"[2][3] is a key factor of the Singularity where super intelligences design successive generations of increasingly powerful minds. (Wikipedia)

Big Data and advancing algorithms are approaching a singularity as current ideas  studying outcomes, and analysis of practice standards merge together.

The effects of health reform as mandated by PPACA attempts to control the “butterfly” (chaos theory) with micro-management of reform.  Nevertheless an ‘event horizon’ quickly appears in the equation. Micro-management inevitably devolves into inefficiency when an entity is given free reign without an expiration date for it’s authority.

For the purpose of writing this article I shall incorrectly assign the title “Obama Care” to the PPACA. Like it’s non-decipherable eponym the contents of Obamacare are overwhelmingly written in government-ese.  The Law requires over 11oo pages, and 2.75bmb of data.  It already has been amended several times with numerous waivers and has faced one serious challenge before the Supreme Court..

Amendments

House of Representatives Passes Amendments to Defund PPACA

The 2011 budget agreement just passed by U.S. Congress on April 14, 2011, contains provisions that repeal and de-fund certain provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010) (PPACA).

Complexity abounds: Health Care Reform for Cafeteria, HRA and Wrap plans

Some changes to PPACA original requirements already have been made both at the legislative and regulatory levels.  For example, the Republicans succeeded in repealing the infamous 1099 filing requirement earlier this spring -- albeit through a bipartisan vote

The Cooperative Health Insurance Program Repealed

Free Choice Voucher Program Takes a Hit

Medical Liability Reform has yet to be addressed, and does contribute significantly to cost containment, and defensive medicine.

 

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