ingenix

[Preceding Commercial: don't miss a full day of coding and practice management education on this Friday, March 25, 2011 in Miami!]

Almost two years ago, I had my second blog piece about UHC, Ingenix, and what I felt (and was later confirmed to be) was their bogus fee schedule data.  Turns out that they ripped off physicians to the tune of 100s of millions of dollars.  Shocking, I know.

I forgot to mention last week that I updated the Build Your Own RVU calculator for 2009.  You can find it and the instructions in the PedSource library.

Andrew Cuomo, you are my new friend.

It’s also nice to feel vindicated.  Lynn Cramer, pay attention - this relates to your questions to me about St. Anthony’s RVU values.  For anyone who is using St. Anthony’s or Ingenix to set prices, etc., pay attention here!

It's Friday, I have a head-cold and sore throat, and all the pressure of farm/T-ball coaching has gotten to me. So, today, I am going to let someone else do all the work.

Head over to Crossover Health, where Dr. Shreeve has picked up on an announcement from the Ingenix CEO that they will open-source their tools. I mentioned this to John Canning and his immediate response was, "Sure, open the tool set and sell the data." Gillette/Burma Shave proved the success of this model a long time ago. I, too, share his and Dr. Shreeve's cynicism (in fact, I don't think the latter is cynical enough). Time will tell, though. Fascinating read.

Just as Dr. Stoller hit PedTalk with the info, I was reading the teaser over on FierceHealthcare:

Now, a consumer is raising the stakes a bit by attempting to get class action status for a suit against Ingenix itself.

Those of you who have the misfortune of having spent time with me know that I tell a lot of stories, often more than once. I also use the same punchlines a lot.
One little routine I've inserted into seminars, phone calls, and lunches a thousand times over the last decade is the UHC/Ingenix piece. "Sure, there is another place where you can get some of the data I'm talking about - Ingenix. You know who owns them, though, right?" Very few people have ever known before I told them.