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.

Jan 17 2018

Risk adjustment vendor Matrix Medical is acquiring HealthFair, which has a fleet of mobile health clinics that primarily do biometric screenings.

https://matrixmedicalnetwork.com/2018/01/16/matrix-acquisition-of-healthfair/
Jan 17 2018

Here is how not to do good research.  In a study in Health Services Research the authors talked to executives at physician practices to determine if a switch to being owned by a health system lessened patient responsiveness and concluded from the interviews that it did not.  What do you expect them to say?  Maybe you should talk to patients or use some objective measures.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29143325
Jan 15 2018

New-fangled PBM SmithRx, gets a fresh dose of capital in $9 million Series A raise.

https://www.pehub.com/2018/01/smithrx-nabs-9-mln-series/
Jan 11 2018

Pager dials up another round of capital, led by Horizon Blue Cross, for its mobile solution that helps patients find the most convenient and cost-effective care.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180111005322/en/Horizon-Healthcare-Services-Pager-Announce-Close-Strategic
Jan 10 2018

More news of provider consolidation, which we really need more of to help control spending (not), as Radiology Partners, the largest radiology practice in the country, buys Renaissance Imaging.

https://www.pehub.com/2018/01/vc-backed-radiology-partners-buys-rima/
Jan 10 2018

Two opioid dependence treatment center chains, BayMark Health and Health Resources Centers, have merged.

https://www.pehub.com/2018/01/pe-backed-baymark-merges-with-hcrc/
Jan 10 2018

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.
Jan 09 2018

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=1