Hi/Lo Bets on Hearing Aid Margins
Are you willing to bet that many audiologists focus on selling as many high-cost premium hearing aids as possible in order to make a living? Ethics aside, it sounds logical that you’ll make more money if you sell more expensive stuff, whether it’s diamonds or hearing aids. Maybe so for top-quality gemstones, but don’t take…
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I’ll Take That Bet and Raise You
Our profession was treated last week to a timely and balanced discussion of unbundling by Robyn Cox PhD. She is one of audiology’s most reasoned thinkers, test creator extraordinaire, talented researcher, and a nice person to boot. Dr. Cox addressed concerns being raised in policy-making circles that traditional hearing aid dispensing models are pricing many…
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Influenza and Audiologists: Mitigating Harm to Life and Wallet
Today wraps up a 3-part series on flu vaccination by looking at private versus public sector efforts to vaccinate and protect, being mindful that we need to protect not only ourselves and our patients, but our professional livelihoods as well. It’s a perfect blend of Economics and Ethics and, I’d like to point out, Marketing. If it were…
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Influenza and Audiologists: In Harm’s Way
Last week’s post ended in high dudgeon at the prospect of hearing professionals violating the Harm Principle by foregoing flu shots. In the meantime, the flu marches on: For the second week in a row, flu deaths exceeded the epidemic threshold; 49.6% of hospital flu admissions were in those 65 and over, 48 states reported the…
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Influenza and Audiologists: Ethics and Economics Finally Agree on Something
Anyone who picked up a newspaper or turned on the news on January 10th knows that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is tracking an “overwhelming” influenza outbreak across the US that is thought to grow more vicious before it abates.{{1}}[[1]]At the same time, the CDC has reported the largest outbreak of pertussis in…
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