Skip to main content
All Posts By

Kevin Roche

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 through Roche Consulting, LLC. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements and may be reached at khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.

Oct 20 2017

The 2017 Kaiser Foundation Employer Health Plan Survey.

https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/2017-employer-health-benefits-survey/
Oct 20 2017

A study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine found that in the New Haven area, Medicaid patients waited substantially longer than did commercial ones to get a followup appointment at most physician practices, although they had shorter waits for a more serious issue, hypertension, than for one like back pain.  Helps explain ER misuse and demonstrates impact of low reimbursement rates.

http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(17)31529-9/abstract
Oct 19 2017

In a very complex transaction, patient engagement vendor MedHelp is being split between disease and health management vendor Staywell, which is itself majority owned by Merck and which is acquiring disease management focused-apps from MedHelp, and consumer health website vendor Vitals, which is acquiring the similar parts of MedHelp.

medhelp staywell
Oct 19 2017

HealthChannels, a provider of medical scribes, is acquiring Elite Medical, which is in the same business.

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/36541992/healthchannels-announces-acquisition-of-minnesota-based-elite-medical-scribes
Oct 19 2017

BaseHealth raises $8.5 million in new funding to support its software that identifies patients at risk for developing chronic diseases.

https://medcitynews.com/2017/10/basehealth-series-c/?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_7AU2swyv3EucXneid4MWWNyh-zBVBnoBTvCDe4BW-Ar17Nq921yESiRrLhVLUVtvG6SAsIfcJtuKbPTZKGFfsFPg9UitHhSaPwNNeK0QftpnJtI0&_hsmi=57529182&rf=1
Oct 18 2017

High-end Medicare and Medicaid consulting firm The Gorman Group has been acquired by Convey Health Solutions, an IT vendor to the MA market.

https://www.gormanhealthgroup.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Accelerating-Growth-and-Expanding-Offering-in-Medicare-Advantage-and-Part-D-Markets.pdf
Oct 18 2017

ML Healthcare, which helps patients find ways to pay for health care, has been recapitalized, i.e. bought, by a private equity firm.

https://www.pehub.com/2017/10/777-partners-recaps-ml-healthcare/
Oct 18 2017

Large workers' comp managed care vendor Mitchell International has acquired Consumer Health Connections, which provides telehealth services for the workers' comp market.

http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20171016/NEWS08/912316545/Claims-manager-Mitchell-invests-workers-comp-telehealth-Consumer-Health?utm_campaign=BI20171018WorkersComp&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ActiveCampaign
Oct 16 2017

Wellness and analytics provider Welltok pays $80 million to acquire Tea Leaves Health, which offers "engagement" software for hospitals to connect with physicians and consumers.

https://medcitynews.com/2017/10/welltoks-80m-acquisition-gains-access-hospitals/?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9p-uER5ZxeSGGVs7RzBLwaIyMsAa9wBMCoLGhpxURhM7UORsGCvnKtJLL9ZsdAfWxVZlmxjK0TbroTOjiSWJXl2Hl_glqmTALB_ogse70tj5LGmXc&_hsmi=57287968&rf=1