What the heck happened in health care during the last decade? You get it all here in three minutes or less.
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Every year I use the holidays to express some sentiment about enjoying family, friends and taking a break from the often-hectic and harrying pace of our lives, and I mean those sentiments very sincerely. While we may not like to think about it, we each have only a limited time in our lives. That should impel a certain seriousness in understanding what makes a real difference in our happiness and satisfaction. The comfort of meaningful relationships with others should be at the top of that list. So I hope all of you find dedicated and ample time for those relationships. And enjoy the relative economic security and abundance we enjoy in this country; it doesn’t happen by accident and it isn’t present everywhere around the world.
A Harvard Business Review article discusses how three primary care groups approach high-cost patients.
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LeanTaas fattens up with $40 million in new financing for its predictive analytics to help manage the use of health care resources.
https://medcitynews.com/2019/12/goldman-sachs-plows-40m-into-california-predictive-analytics-startup/?utm_campaign=MCN%20Daily%20Top%20Stories&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=81089305&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_CwisXK41QlIl_6EKEB8YHq3into8AgsPWv2STFKcNffbcYJcL8cJy7lP2kU6PSDdb9ldNoINH6VAOAUboQ0pRLyIxSJqAx-FEDMmqvkJ_ZRjL1Zc&_hsmi=81089305&rf=1Caresyntax (might want to change that name, a lot of people care about sin taxes), a vendor of software to reduce surgery complications, has raised about $46 million in new financing and used part of it to acquire, Syus, which offers analytic services to hospitals.
https://medcitynews.com/2019/12/or-software-company-raises-45-6m-and-makes-a-new-acquisition/?utm_campaign=MCN%20Daily%20Top%20Stories&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=81089305&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_CwisXK41QlIl_6EKEB8YHq3into8AgsPWv2STFKcNffbcYJcL8cJy7lP2kU6PSDdb9ldNoINH6VAOAUboQ0pRLyIxSJqAx-FEDMmqvkJ_ZRjL1Zc&_hsmi=81089305&rf=1Here is a fascinating article on the topic of statistical uncertainty.
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NeuroFlow hits a nerve with investors, getting $7.5 million in financing for its platform that helps providers integrate mental health care and do remote mental health services.
https://medcitynews.com/2019/12/neuroflow-the-most-clinical-grade-out-of-sea-of-mental-health-solutions-lands-7-5m-investment/?utm_campaign=MCN%20Daily%20Top%20Stories&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=81025361&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9faPg_L5qeELd3CL_X5Zt3LpOQjYs05NlpG_Zy-2EumJreJFcFJj_GmU7zBOG0JYJJwcZY3bZGqZKrjZdpAAB54t9pOfvjWl4SbWcx4JGNsgH_UGM&_hsmi=81025361&rf=1Emilio Health has gathered a fresh $5 million in funding to develop a behavioral health home for children and families.
Projected growth in CO2 emissions driven by countries outside the OECD graph of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions by country or region, as explained in the article text Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Outlook 2016 Note: OECD is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Research carried by JAMA finds that certain hospitals end up getting paid more by Medicare for treating the same patients with the same condition than do other hospitals.
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More BS. A study in Health Services Research finds that giving patients a personal "navigator" and some money to buy wellness related services and items provides only a very modest boost to patient activation scores and self-reported quality of life (I would feel better if people gave me things too) but has absolutely no information on impact on any real health status, utilization or spending effect, suggesting that there isn't any.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1475-6773.13235Bright Health, a new health plan company focussed on narrow network products, secures an additional $635 million in financing, bringing its total to over a billion in capital. Be interesting to see if they can ever generate a return on that.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bright-health-announces-635m-series-d-funding-led-by-nea-300975710.htmlA study in JAMA looks at the impact on health outcomes from giving people a housing voucher.
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Humana is buying hospice pharmacy and PBM operator Enclara for an undisclosed sum.
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payer/humana-announces-deal-to-purchase-hospice-pbm-enclara-healthcare?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTURFd05EVTJaVEl3TTJJeCIsInQiOiJxYU1rVjQxTXFrY2ZwN2s5Q3dqaGdGV3ZySFlKblNWY2ZcL3F4TWdGZlBtSkZoeVBFMXphV1lqaHphN1Z1bGNRK2JBYzdoVW5GdzFtTGtQcWJIcFRMSXhNeXpmYzVWMmlhWDZXRWIrS2VLUGYxcXVFMkVrTjVrR2x2bTgrNDNqdEoifQ%3D%3D&mrkid=635530About this Blog
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.