Anne? Punch me in the face. This is what the actor playing Larry Summers, then-president of Harvard University, sarcastically says to his assistant in the movie The Social Network. It was a reaction to the Winklevoss twins reciting the ethics section of the Harvard student handbook in support of their allegations that Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea for what is now known as Facebook. Admittedly, feeling like someone should punch me in the face comes to mind with a fair amount of frequency when working on mind-numbing health policy issues. In the One Thoughtful Paragraph, I explain how Larry Summers is connected to our current-day discussions about whether the federal government should pay for telehealth services.
News from this week about health IT stakeholders taking jabs at difficult problems – but no one was punched in the face, as far as we know:
- The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health held a hearing about the devastating impact of the cyberattack on Change Healthcare on the healthcare ecosystem to explore how to prevent another attack from happening and/or minimize the financial consequences.
- The ONC published its Health Equity by Design Concept Paper, which details how the agency intends to approach data equity through the health IT Certification program, standards development, and federal health IT coordination. ONC is accepting feedback through June 10, 2024.
- Mathematica, an employee-owned research and consulting company that counts the federal government as one of its clients, announced the launch of the Health Data Innovation Lab, a digital operational hub for health organizations to collaborate with data scientists and health policy experts. A webinar will be held on May 7 that focuses on Health AI.
Reading health care economic studies can make you a bit punchy; unlike Larry Summers, though, I refrain from asking anyone to actually punch me in the face. So I was safe this week when I reviewed a study co-authored by Harvard economics professor David Cutler about whether it makes sense for the federal government to continue to reimburse providers for telehealth services. Professor Cutler got off to a running start as an undergrad working with Larry Summers (who, interestingly, now sits on the Open AI board), and went on to play a supporting role in the Clinton-era health reform proposal and then again in the development of the Affordable Care Act – but always acting as the non-political, just-numbers-just-facts kind of health care math guy. So when Professor Cutler signs off on a study that finds patients and doctors like telehealth, it improves (but just a little) access and the quality of care, and any increase in spending is modest enough to justify Medicare continuing to pay for it – policymakers tend to listen. If you couple this study with the congressional and MedPAC discussions about whether telehealth is a viable way of delivering health care to people, and notice that the private sector is struggling with the telehealth model (here, here, here, here), we seem to be at a crossroads about what to do next about this issue. A great line in The Social Network movie is when Mark Zuckerberg’s betrayed colleague says to him: “You better lawyer up…[bleep].” This is good, if colorful, advice to stakeholders in the telehealth space. Lawyers, lobbyists, and economists are all in order in this moment. But no need to punch anyone; let’s just get this one done.
