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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.

Sep 29 2017

98point6 raises a hot $19.5 million from feverish investors.  I am not sure what it does but the geniuses who wrote the press release say the company has an "audacious vision".  It uses "deep technology" (on the ocean floor?) to do something related to continuity of care at a "massively lower cost than anything in the market today" (I didn't know cost had mass.)  It is not a good sign when you can't tell in the first sentence or two of a press release what a company actually does.  These investors are truly delirious.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170919005623/en/98point6-Raises-19.5-Million-Series-Funding-“Continuity
Sep 28 2017

Cardinal Analytx, which will use artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict which patients will be high cost, gathers $6.1 million in fresh funding.

https://www.pehub.com/2017/09/cardinal-analytx-solutions-pulls-in-6-1-mln-series-a/
Sep 28 2017

Tia, which plans to be a health care platform for millennial women (women a thousand years old?), gets a seed round of $2.5 million.

https://www.pehub.com/2017/09/millennial-womens-health-platform-tia-grabs-2-5-mln-seed/
Sep 28 2017

PatientSafe, which offers mobile health care workflow and communication tools, has raised $25 in additional capital.

https://www.pehub.com/2017/09/patientsafe-fetches-25-mln/
Sep 27 2017

Large benefit consulting firm Mercer says that health benefit cost trend for employers in 2018 will be 4.3%, after benefit changes, with drug costs continuing to disproportionately affect that trend.

https://www.mercer.com/newsroom/mercer-survey-shows-employers-face-increase-in-health-benefit-cost-in-2018.html
Sep 26 2017

A survey from Health Catalyst finds that most providers think their EHR is providing a poor or worse return on investment and only 10% say they are getting a positive return.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/survey-healthcare-technology-pros-see-poor-roi-from-electronic-records-but-view-analytics-as-a-solution-300519772.html
Sep 25 2017

Large health insurer Anthem is acquiring HealthSun, and integrated Medicare Advantage/delivery system in Florida that covers about 40,000 people.

http://ir.antheminc.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=130104&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2301740
Sep 25 2017

Episource, which gathers chart and other data for risk adjustment and other purposes, is acquiring Peak Payer Solutions, which performs risk adjustment reviews for health plans.

https://www.episource.com/innovation-hub/epitalk/episource-acquires-peak-payer-solutions-expanding-capabilities-health-risk-assessments-clinical-services/
Sep 25 2017

Large European insurer Generally is acquiring CareLinx, which arranges for care resources to patients, generally at home.

https://medcitynews.com/2017/09/insurance-giant-acquires-caregiver-matchmaker-carelinx/?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_wu846cpciivWEuYYXdTODzWbf7NbRjdGTUz3s9mLAWLMqAchZ7W9ps-916-lCDubwjSNxDll8uI-qOD6JaNRuF2ZsWp4zZYwD6OLx282gTTimlos&_hsmi=56664584
Sep 25 2017

Dispatch Health, which brings health care services to the patient's place of residence, raises $31 million in fresh funding.

https://www.pehub.com/2017/09/dispatchhealth-attracts-30-8-mln/