Dealing with Enemies and Conflict

Here is a great article on how two Best Buy power players, the Founder and the new CEO, went from enemies to a unified front.  The three main points on how the new CEO diffused the situation are as follows.

Who Do You Spend Time With?

I have spent hours thinking about and challenging this idea in my mind, but it keeps reproving itself to me over and over.  Consider who you spend the most time with, and most likely you are the average of those five friends in all areas of life:

Why the Pharmacy Stop is a Necessary One

A growing trend in our industry is "Physician Dispensing." This is when a medical provider sells the drugs from their office instead of writing a prescription and sending them to the pharmacy.

Some companies will go to physician offices and set up "vending machines" with the most common drugs to be sold.  Then physicians get a cut of the profits. 

Task Management vs. Outcome Leadership

I am sure all of you heard about the "ban" on large sugary drinks in New York City.  I was very happy to see that a judge overruled it (Comrade Bloomberg will appeal that ruling).  It was nice to see the judicial system play its proper role in controlling the expansion of government.

Hospital Fees, Minus the Actual Hospital

​There is a trend towards consolidation in the healthcare industry. We're seeing hospitals buying up medical provider offices (or forming them). The main financial advantage is that they can then bill at hospital rates or bill for things like room charges without the actual hospital overhead. This article documents one example of this practice in Boston.

Growing a Company Montessori-Style

I’ve been looking at schools for my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and I was floored by the quality of education available today.  

One school, Near North Montessori, really stood out from the rest. It’s fostering a science and culture of learning that is unbelievable.  The days I remember of mindless memorization and hours of sitting bored and frustrated listening to lectures are no more. While I wish I could relive my school years, I realize, especially after my recent Montessori school visit, that I’m reliving those years every day alongside our Company’s 200+employees. I discovered that what we’ve been fostering for the past 14 years within the Company’s culture is based heavily on the Montessori method. Here are six common philosophies we share to develop the human potential:

Healthcare Costs on the Rise in Workers' Compensation

Medical inflation in workers' compensation is back. This article in Managed Care Matters documents the trends that we have seen in our own data.  Studies in IN, VA and NJ show significant increases.  Facility and hospital costs are driving a lot of this increase.  

ASC Behavior and Payment Disparity

Outpatient surgery in an Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) costs much less than in an outpatient hospital setting or ASC owned by a hospital.  The gap has been growing due to the need for ASCs to compete and be efficient, and regulations and rates as defined by the largest payer in the country, Medicare.

Freedom: Ron Paul Farewell

America was founded and successful based on two principles.  Liberty (or freedom) and opportunity.  Actually, with pure and true liberty, opportunity is a given.  Liberty was the primary basis of America at the onset.  It was what made us great.  Unfortunately, I believe the meaning and understanding of the word has been lost on most of us over the years.

The Primal Origins of Morality and Bias

CBS' 60 Minutes aired an amazing episode Nov. 18, 2012.  It was a special on what aspects of morality and bias are innate. Yale University's Baby Lab studied babies as young as three months old, as well as children of differing ages and came to some interesting conclusions: