View from Washington: The Mystery of the Medical Device Tracking Initiative
A rule to establish a tracking system for medical devices – similar to a bar code – has been stuck at the White House Office…
Articles by Robert Betz Ph.D.
View from Washington – The Tax Trail
The history behind – and future of – the medical device excise tax Samuel Johnson, that towering figure of 18th-century English literature, once said about…
View from Washington: Day in Court
The Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Law, and Constitutional Federalism John Adams referred to the Constitution as “the greatest single effort of national deliberation that…
View from Washington – A Healthy Discussion
Have you ever gotten on an airplane, sat next to someone, and they asked you “What do you do for a living?” Having more airline…
View From Washington: The Devil You Know
Will the Congressional Super Committee solve the nation’s deficit problems, or create new ones for healthcare providers? There is a choice right now before healthcare…
View from Washington: The New Middleman
Physician Owned Distributors (PODs) get front stage The issue of physician-owned distributorships hit the policy front stage in June when U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah),…
View from Washington: A Good Start
What the Netherlands might offer for Medicare restructuring. Although the recent political heat has been searing, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan’s proposed changes to Medicare are…
View from Washington: Medtronic and GPOs – Everything Old is New Again
Peter Allen, the song writer, wrote “Everything old is new again.” That musical observation is also true about the chain of events starting in late…
View from Washington: The Healthcare Law Shuffle
I found the recent vote in the U.S House of Representative on January 19, along with follow-up action on January 20, to be of greater…
View from Washington: “Simpler Times” and the Government’s Report on GPOs
The late summer release of two reports – one by the General Accountability Office (GAO) and the other by the staff of the Senate Finance…