Eric M. Huebscher is the President and CEO of Huebscher & Co.
He has over 30 years of management experience in with a specialized emphasis on healthcare operations, finance and regulatory compliance and oversight.
JUL
13
2021
Connections 'intentionally limited' patient care advocate's access to records
Connections Community Support Programs is once again blocking key records from being released - this time regarding quality of care to thousands of patients.
FEB
19
2019
Long-term outcomes of an Electronic Health Record Intervention to Improve Hypertension Management in Immigrant-Serving Primary Care Practices
Eric Huebscher co-authored article on reducing patients with hypertension through improved use of EHR data mining techniques.
MAY
26
2016
A Failure of Oversight: State, county and federal supervision didn't convey worry about Mesabi Academy
APM Reports recently published an article detailing the lack of oversight of the Mesabi Academy, in Northern Minnesota. The article chronicales the timeline of the ongoing investigation, including the role Huebscher and Co. played in the case.
MAY
21
2016
Ombudsman blasts Nightingale; company calls report flawed
Nurses were forced to travel hundreds of miles a day, with more assignments than they could handle. Patients sometimes received unnecessary care to run up bills. Employees quit in high numbers, resulting in staffing turnover of more than 100 percent in just two years. Managers gave sports tickets and spa gift certificates to doctors in exchange for referrals.
JUN
15
2015
Patient Protection and the ACA: The Future of Health Care Restructuring
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) represented the first major change in governmental health care legislation since the introduction of the Medicare program in the mid-1960s. The primary goals of the ACA was to improve the quality and affordability of health ser¬vices delivered to qualified individuals in the U.S. Prior to this law, the public consensus was that the cost of health care was increasing at an alarming rate, far exceeding ordinary inflation. At the same time, states became increasingly concerned that their uninsured population was the culprit of these spiraling out-of-control costs. Through the intro¬duction of Health Exchanges, the ACA intended to expand both public and private health insurance options while at the same time lower costs.
The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services Chief Actuary Richard Foster wrote in 2010 that the total net cost of the ACA would amount to more than $251 billion through 2019. Embedded in this calculation, Foster wrote that the nation would see an increase of $828 billion in health coverage expansion, but achieve savings of $575 billion through reductions in Medicare spending. The pro¬jected costs and savings, Foster wrote, would essen¬tially begin in late 2014 and begin to blossom in 2015 and beyond. As such, the U.S. has only just scratched the surface of the financial and health impacts of the ACA on the public at large. As is the case in many aspects of health care delivery sys¬tems and changes, the passage of time is essential to prove conceptual theories in an effort to match current market conditions.
DEC
5
2012
U.S. Supreme Court and Health Care: Proper Forum for the Reform Debate?
This is the fourth in a series of articles on health care-related issues. The first three focused on health care restructuring efforts by a wide range of health maintenance organizations from across the country. This article looks at the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court and whether the decision defined health care for the future or possibly exacerbated an already contentious issue. Previous articles in this series can be found below.
In the first three articles, the spiraling cost of health care and the attempts made by insurance organizations to reign in those costs by shifting expenses to the insured was examined, as well as the insurance company tool of requiring referrals and authorizations in order to receive specialty care. Neither of these concepts resulted in the expected outcome, as evidenced by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) cost projections. The outcome was not a reduction in expense but rather an increase in the administrative burden and cost to providers of care, as well as an exponential expansion in the type of insurance products offered to the public. Today’s health insurance choices are so varied and complex that in some instances, they require trained professionals to explain the benefits to the consumer. This trend is not helpful and only confuses an already complex decision-making process. The third article discussed a pragmatic, simplified approach to reigning in the cost of healthcare by attacking the root causes of excessive expense and system abuses.
JUL
5
2012
Health Care Reform: A Pragmatic Approach
This is the third in a series of articles on health care restructuring efforts by a wide range of health maintenance organizations from across the country. This article addresses several sensible initiatives in an attempt to avoid the continued insolvency rate in health care services industry.
In the first two articles, I examined the spiraling cost of health care and the attempts made by insurance organizations to reign in those cost by shifting expenses to the insured. I also examined the insurance company tool of requiring referrals and authorizations in order to receive specialty care. I believe that it is clear that neither of these concepts resulted in the expected outcome, as evidenced by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) cost projections. The outcome was not a reduction in expense but rather, an increase in the administrative burden and cost to providers of care, as well as an exponential expansion in the type of insurance products offered to the public. The health insurance choices we have today are so varied and complex that in some instances, they require trained professionals to explain the benefits to the consumer. This trend is not helpful and only confuses an already complex decision-making process.
MAY
9
2012
Payor Restructuring: Cost Containment and Sharing Approaches - Part 2
This is the second in a series of articles on health care restructuring efforts by a wide range of health maintenance organizations from across the country.
In the first article in this series, found here, the author examined how the Healthcare Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 has evolved since its introduction almost 40 years ago. When the Act was legislated, the primary driving force was to create a paradigm of health care services that would keep the costs and delivery of health care in check while halting the apparent escalating expense structure that was outpacing the consumer inflation indexes. With the benefit of hindsight, the author is almost certain that the Act’s authors now wish that they had expanded the scope and depth of their legislation to provide greater checks and balances—the least of which might have kept the expense profile under tighter control. The first article also touched on how the Obama administration's Healthcare Reform legislation may impact our society.
FEB
23
2012
Payor Restructuring: Cost Containment and Sharing Approaches
It should come as no surprise that health care failures are not solely centered on hospitals, provider groups and ancillary care services. There have also been failures by the insurers (though far fewer in number). While failures of hospitals and payor groups can be attributed in large part to managements' inability to effect changes in reimbursement structures and overly burdensome debt structures, the insurer failures are invariably a result of actuarial predetermined premiums not matching the expected administrative expense, medical utilization estimates and poorly managed business operations. The insurers have implemented several initiatives over the years in an attempt to either control those costs or discourage perceived unnecessary use of services. No discussion on health care would be complete without some mention of the documented fraud that covers all segments of this industry. The case against the executives of Tampa, Florida based Wellcare is a prime example the industry principles gone wrong. There are some who argue that tighter controls over fraud would go a long way in reducing health care enterprise failures, as well as reducing overall expenses to the system.
SEP
15
2010
HEALTH CARE REFORM : THE BIG HEDGE
Almost two years ago, the financial markets collapsed and big banks came running to the government for a bailout. Public opinion held that an era of irresponsible lending and unquestioned growth in the U.S. housing market precipitated the economic downfall of late 2008, just as Barack Obama was campaigning to become our next president. Now, as many citizens blame Wall Street's largest financial institutions for gambling at the expense of the general public, the current administration has elected to make a few bets of its own in the name of health care reform. Financial institutions were criticized for lending to homebuyers incapable of sustaining their mortgage payments, and subsequently creating the convoluted securities that ensured that the expense would be shared by all.