EP226: Is the Surprise Billing Gold Rush Screeching to a Halt?, With Devon Herrick, PhD, Health Economist and Policy Analyst

Today I speak with Devon Herrick, PhD, who is an expert in surprise billing. Devon is a health care economist and public policy analyst who has authored many articles on surprise billing. You’ll find some links in the show notes. Devon is also an adviser to the Heartland Institute, which is a free-market think tank. I find it incredibly thought provoking that a free-market think tank, for reasons we discuss in this podcast, finds unfettered market-driven surprise billing as egregious as the most progressive socialists do. Handshaking across aisles everywhere.

If you’re a hospital or insurance carrier executive, what are you doing right now in light of all this public attention and legislation? I hope your response includes actions to protect your patients—and not just an industry-centric lobbying effort.

You can learn more and connect with Devon on Twitter at @DevonHerrick or on Facebook at Devon Herrick.  

Devon M. Herrick, PhD, is a health economist and former hospital accountant. He is currently a health policy adviser for the Chicago-based Heartland Institute. Dr. Herrick worked for the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) for 21 years until it ceased operations in 2017. He also served two terms as chair of the Health Economics Roundtable of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE).

Dr. Herrick focuses on health insurance issues, including state health care regulations, federal health reform, managed care, Medicare, Medicaid, and the uninsured. He also researches issues such as consumer-driven health care, telemedicine, medical tourism, pharmaceutical economics, and emerging trends in retail medicine.