Hearing Economics

Shhhh.  This is a test.  Last week’s post described high-level healthcare fraud by its defining characteristics and discussed Audiologists’ healthcare fraud exposure at the end.  Readership was not high compared to the Zombie post that preceded it. Two hypotheses are put forth to explain observed differences in Audiologists’ reading preferences: H1:   Audiologists are way too into zombies for their own

 Hearing Economics is juggling several series right now, including one on regulation of professional practices and another on professional theft and fraud.  They’re running in parallel as a reminder that theft is not only immoral and unethical, it’s powerfully destructive.  Innovative, over-the-top frauds can influence Government policy and spending at least as much as powerful special interest groups.   Big

Zombies are a value stock. They are wordless and oozing and brain dead, but they’re an ever-expanding market with no glass ceiling. Zombies are a target-rich environment, literally and figuratively.{{1}}[[1]] Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead[[1]] No doubt about it, zombies are a target market for a number of goods and services, but one that Audiologists have thus far failed to exploit in

I had the distinct pleasure and honor of speaking to the British Columbia Association of Speech/Language Pathologists & Audiologists (BCASLPA) on October 13, 2012.  Although I cannot say those who attended my session felt as honored, I can say that the small but hardy group stayed with me for a full 5.5 hours while we talked about that ever-fascinating topic,

[This post was originally published at Hearing Economics on January 24, 2012 ] Who are the most ruthless capitalists in the Western world?”  Bankers? Oil companies?  Health insurers?  None of the above; they are actually academic publishers… their monopolistic practices make Walmart look like a corner shop and Rupert Murdoch a socialist.  {{1}}[[1]] George Monbiot writing in The Guardian, quoted in The Robber

The last post on Government regulation introduced gluts and shortages, both undesirable, inefficient and unsustainable–theoretically– in a free market. “Theoretically” because the free market of classical economics is modeled on a world of “complete information, interchangeable goods and services, and lack of market power” — a world that exists only in theory.  Laissez-faire{{1}}[[1]]tr:  Leave [us] alone.[[1]]  gets closer to free market reality

As promised last week, today’s post concludes our two-week celebration of International Coffee Week by providing an updated table linking coffee/caffeine intake to health effects.  The original table appeared in April and you can see that it’s grown quite a bit in only four months.  The fly in the ointment continues to be a glaring lack of evidence and information

The world observes National Coffee Day on September 29.  England (obviously the most Advanced Country in the World) gives coffee a full week of festivities, adulation and celebrations in April. Throughout the year, there are whole cultures and religions (e.g., coffee kosherology)  actively working on coffee, exploring the finer points of Starbucks on websites, examining its Official Guidelines and loyalty programs.  South Korean pilgrimages to worship “higher

The first post in this series reminded readers why small firms have to come up with small but inventive cost-containment ideas to compete in competitive markets.  Idea #1 was to eliminate old expensive monitoring technology (security systems) and switch to inexpensive portable systems (smartphones with remote web cams).  Total estimated savings over 3 years (my wild guess):  $2600. Here is

Editor’s Caveat:  Hearing Economics strives for a broad economic view, rarely getting down to nuts and bolts of running a practice–you’ll find those in our Hearing Health section.  However.  today’s post is the first in a series that reveals my dirty, or nutty, little secrets for cost cutting.  They’re not clever and they’re not real secrets, but they are little — most only work (if they