Research in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association finds no association between availability and use of a patient portal and hospital readmissions.
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Research in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that modifiable risk factors account for racial disparities in rates of Type 2 diabetes.
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A fascinating piece of research from JP MorganChase Institute finds that consumers, especially low-income ones, have higher out-of-pocket health care spending immediately after receiving a tax refund. It appears that consumers delay receipt of care or payment of previous bills until they get a tax refund they believe is coming.
A report from the Minnesota Department of Health finds substantial variation in the state for prices of common health services.
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InTouch Health, a telemedicine vendor, is acquiring TruClinc, which offers telehealth software.
https://medcitynews.com/2018/01/intouch-health-truclinic/?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_qYyRMk0x55uDuEGNyda0vWsONfjlCpjw954d_NisOQNQHKygjKuCxKINq0hVJAy1UUB1L8kjbL0caLvX3Qf-pTwXZ0mnUAG21ACSlaAvXfnEKZg8&_hsmi=59817909&rf=1City Block has raised an additional $21 million in funding to support its work to partner with providers and payers to improve primary care for Medicare and Medicaid patients. The funding was announced in the most hype-laden press release I have seen in a while. Never a good sign.
https://www.pehub.com/2018/01/cityblock-health-scores-20-8-mln-series-a/Lets all share a moment of silence to honor hospitals, which, according to the American Hospital Association, saw uncompensated care costs rise to $38.3 billion in 2016, up about 8% from 2015, but still just a fraction of the excessive profits garnered by health systems from overpricing and the excessive costs they incur due to overpaying management.
http://www.aha.org/content/17/2017-uncompensated-care-factsheet.pdfA brief from the Commonwealth Fund suggests that the current method of reimbursing Medicare Advantage plans results in overpayments.
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EHR and practice management software vendor Allscripts is acquiring competitor Practice Fusion for $100 million in cash, starting a likely wave of consolidation among EHR vendors. Now that most systems and practices have an EHR, growth is solely to come from stealing from competitors, or buying them. Not good news in the long run for customers, who will face higher prices, and whose already dismal satisfaction with most of these products won't likely be improved.
https://ehrintelligence.com/news/allscripts-to-acquire-practice-fusion-in-100m-cash-deal?elqTrackId=a342f0a679ce48518de1ca05fc7f38f4&elq=314ca00a85dd4425a20fc95dbce40475&elqaid=4387&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=4065About 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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