Mike Metz

Editor’s Note: While our editorial team takes the week off for the holidays, we hope you enjoy the most viewed post this year at Hearing Views. This post was originally published on August 28, 2018.   by Mike Metz Views of third-party payers will vary among providers.  Professional qualifications and membership restrictions are seldom the reasons that clinicians and providers dislike

Unless you are a hermit (hermitess?), you have heard about and read the anonymous “inside resistance” op-ed published during the first week of September.  An anonymous senior member of the President’s staff wrote to the New York Times.[1]  The editorial was quite blunt and critical.  The Times was asked to allow it to be printed anonymously. They agreed. There are

Views of third-party payers will vary among providers.  Professional qualifications and membership restrictions are seldom the reasons that clinicians and providers dislike the folks who control their billing and receipts.  More often, it’s likely that the amount of money paid by insurers and other third parties that’s the key issue.  On the other hand, consumers generally love these third party

Evolution is necessary, not only in nature but also in business. Generally, living organisms benefit from evolution. So do people and probably so do most patients.  Some folks seem to fear progress around them. Some quietly observe. Some argue violently. Most float by on the prevailing current without notice, comment, or participation.   For those of you who dispense hearing instruments,

by Mike Metz As PSAPs come into the marketplace, and as clinicians decide how to deal with them, there arises an issue of the need to addressing patient counselling.  Most hearing aid fittings come with recommendations for follow-up.  Most new cars sales also come with recommendations for follow-up.  What do PSAPs come with? Automobile sales typically consist of following up

by Mike Metz If you know a better way of functionally describing transparency than by stating “one can see through it clearly”, let me know.  I would also like to have an alternative definition for “sterile”, “truthful”, “correct”, and “perfect”.  These words imply a state that is not compromised. Semi-truthful doesn’t mean almost the truth, it means wrong. Semi-perfect is

An article in the New York Times on March 20, 2018 by David Leonhardt presents (tangentially, I admit) an interesting issue.[1]  His piece concerns the recent tragedy of a pedestrian being hit by an Uber car in Arizona.  The Uber was operating in “automatic” mode with a driver in back-up command.  Uber halted testing of autonomous driving vehicles until the

  About twenty-five years ago, audiologists began to seriously question the issues which may constitute a professional “conflict of interest”.  Over the past two decades, many examples of blatant Conflict of Interest (COI) have been exposed, discussed, and for the most part, remedied. The field has improved remarkably—as it had to do. But there remains an issue at the core

Things in the hearing field are changing.  No matter what your opinion on these potential changes, consideration of all the issues and potential impacts would seem judicious.  The following three scenarios might provide some direction for consideration.   Scenario 1   A person with hearing loss goes on line and purchases two “mail order”, DIY, or PSAP hearing devices.  There

I hope the words in the title caught your eye sufficiently to entice you to read what follows.  Many people are like that.  Psych/Marketing 101. What might we learn from Mercedes Benz as the clinical world around us changes?  Or, more precisely, what’s the market for our services and what might influence future success?  (We do want to make PSAPs