H. Gilbert Welch is mad

He is a professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and he thinks that the "ethical standards (in medicine) are getting pretty darn low". He has concerns in a couple of areas.

The providers — hospitals, doctors, universities, pharmaceutical companies and device manufactures — is a primary area.  He is particularly incensed at the acquisition of independent physician practices by hospitals, as Medicare pays hospitals more for the practices performing the same thing as they did in their offices.  He cites as a typical case a patient who had a cardiac stress test when the practice was independent and after it was acquired by a hospital.  The before-price of $2,000 was one-quarter of the after-price of $8,000.  Of course, the markup by the hospital for common medicines can be outrageous. $108 for a tube of bacitracin that costs $5 at CVS?  And, then, there's the extensive testing and re-testing whether the process accomplishes anything or not.