At Ernie's class @ MIT

I was a guest lecturer last night at Professor Ernst Berndt's course at MIT's Sloan School, entitled "Economics of the Health Care Industries." The students represent a variety of backgrounds, and we had great discussions about a full range of issues in hospital management.

I added a new weapon to my arsenal in the Socratic method -- a promise that anyone who made a particularly insightful comment would be featured here on this blog. You see them in the accompanying pictures.

I also had an opportunity to suggest the first of four essay topics for the class. These will be turned in on Monday, and I promised to print the best ones here. Stay tuned for those next week.

I gave them a very tough topic, but it is quite timely and represents an actual problem facing provider groups here in Massachusetts and elsewhere. Here it is:

First, read this blog post. Then, the question is: What methodology would you propose for the allocation of an annual global payment, to divide it up among primary care doctors, community hospitals, tertiary hospitals, specialist doctors, nursing homes, etc. -- all of whom are involved in caring for a given population of patients? How would you make the transition from the current fee-for-service approach?