Today and tomorrow we will present some highlights from the annual Kaiser survey of employer-sponsored health plans.
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An analysis in Health Affairs finds that low-cost, but high-volume services are the single largest contributor to unnecessary health spending.
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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=1MedPAC's updated report on geographical variation in Medicare spending finds some lessening of differences.
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MDVIP issues survey results regarding how doctors feel about their work environment.
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A Deloitte report focuses on how drug companies can get more connected with patients using their products.
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Two briefs from the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker look at out-of-pocket spending trends.
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Here is another firm trying to acquire its way to success. Atos, a French IT outsourcing firm, is buying three US health IT consultants, Pursuit Healthcare, Conduent Healthcare Provider Consulting and Conduent Breakaway.
https://atos.net/en/2017/press-release_2017_10_04/atos-acquires-3-key-healthcare-consulting-companies-usDon't be a fool, invest in JOOL, its a gem, get it. Apparently some investors did, shining up JOOL Health with $4.5 million in capital, apparently, as best I can tell from the gibberish in the press release, for something that has to do with digital and patient engagement.
https://www.joolhealth.com/blog/press-releases/jool-health-closes-4-5m-series-seed-preferred-round/Express Scripts is buying EviCore for $3.6 billion. The purchase suggests that ESI recognizes that the PBM business is losing steam and facing price pressures and a move to broader care management capabilities may provide better future returns.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=69641&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2305687A Magellan report shows that specialty drug costs are a big issue for Medicaid too.
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Trillian Health apparently intents to acquire a trillion companies, as it has made three recent acquisitions to bolster its health data and analytics business, including Expression Health Analytics, Aegis Health, and Clariture Health.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171003005553/en/Trilliant-Health-Brings-Expression-Health-Analytics-FoldAccording to an AHRQ Statistical Brief, 35% of child visits to a physician were paid for by Medicaid and the average payment per visit by Medicaid was $88 less than that paid by private insurance. Hard-to-imagine that many physicians will continue to serve children covered by Medicaid with kind of gap.
https://meps.ahrq.gov/data_files/publications/st504/stat504.shtml?utm_source=ahrq&utm_medium=en1&utm_term=&utm_content=1&utm_campaign=ahrq_en10_3_2017Research published in Health Affairs finds that high-deductible plans discourage both needed and unnecessary care use.
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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.