My usual rambling, meaningless post to commemorate a holiday, which at least here in Minnesota for this one just marks the dreary continuation of a cold winter.
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A truly lightweight report from the Urban Institute finds lower per enrollee spending growth for government programs than private health plans.
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A blog post from the Centre for Economic Policy Research looks at 200 years of health care and health care spending.
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A report from Premier discusses ER visit reductions that could result from better management of six common chronic conditions.
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Qualcomm is the latest non-health care company to realize maybe it doesn't know what it is doing in the space, selling its connected health businesses to a PE firm, which will call them Capsule Technologies and 2net.
https://medcitynews.com/2019/02/qualcomm-sells-off-its-connected-health-business-to-private-equity-firm/?utm_campaign=MCN%20Daily%20Top%20Stories&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=69816381&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8IcliRcXsY0jNP0HJb5oqq3Rh1UA1bbJo8fFgk5wv-H89V9s6g9Td1A5henM_6UcPH-wP24tn8egbjcG1en83bDkmjVJXSlDA5nRPsYxTztndP8mI&_hsmi=69816381&rf=1Colorado publishes a report outlining hospital cost-shifting in the state.
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Hospital chain Providence St. Joseph is buying Lumedic, a revenue cycle management vendor which uses blockchain technology. Hope they don't end up feeling like blockheads.
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20190209/NEWS/190209929?utm_source=modernhealthcare&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20190209-NEWS-190209929&utm_campaign=amA brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation demonstrates how Medicare's share of drug spending has grown since the introduction of Part D and expansion of Part B medication use.
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A survey by the American Medical Association finds that doctors still enjoy doing prior authorization and find it very beneficial for patient care, not.
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A study in the Annals of Surgery focuses on improving handoffs from surgery and studied the use of standardized handoff forms and processes. While the completeness of information improved, handoff took longer, i.e., cost more, and there was no improvement in mortality or length of stay. Costs more and no real improvement in outcomes; sound like a lot of so-called quality improvement.
https://insights.ovid.com/crossref?an=00000658-900000000-95308Another specialty pharmacy company weighs in with a 2018 trend report on that category of medications.
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About 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.
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