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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.

Dec 04 2015

Contessa Health has raised $3.5 million in new capital to help its business of facilitating in-home "hospitalization".

https://www.pehub.com/2015/12/contessa-health-collects-3-5-mln-series-a/
Dec 04 2015

Population health manager WellTok has raised $45 million and has acquired Silverlink, which helps health plans communicate with their senior members.

http://medcitynews.com/2015/12/welltok-silverlink-raises-45m/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=448b4cd5eb-MCN+Daily+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5092836c41-448b4cd5eb-408793005
Dec 04 2015

GreatCall, which provides home technology for seniors, is acquiring Lively, a home health monitoring company.

http://medcitynews.com/2015/12/greatcall-acquires-lively-remote-monitoring-seniors/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=448b4cd5eb-MCN+Daily+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5092836c41-448b4cd5eb-408793005
Dec 04 2015

Kaiser Permanente, a large "non-profit" staff model health plan, is acquiring the Group Health Cooperative of Seattle for $1.8 billion.  

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20151204/NEWS/151209935?utm_source=modernhealthcare&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20151204-NEWS-151209935&utm_campaign=dose
Dec 04 2015

Large workers' comp vendor Genex Services has acquired medical bill review firm Alpha Review Corp.

http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20151201/NEWS08/151209980?tags=%7C70%7C74%7C285%7C304%7C92#utm_medium=email&utm_source=bi-workerscomp&utm_campaign=bi-workerscomp-20151203
Dec 03 2015

Evariant has raised $42.3 million to aid its business of helping health systems conduct digital marketing campaigns and engage patients.

http://medcitynews.com/2015/12/health-it-evariant/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=c0bdc550fe-MCN+Daily+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5092836c41-c0bdc550fe-408793005
Dec 03 2015

Once again people are shocked, just shocked, when the response to a government regulation is to try to minimize the consequences.  The Wall Street Journal finds a relationship between hospitals showing significant declines in readmissions and increased use of observation stays at those hospitals.  Guess what, readmissions are penalized but being "readmitted" for "observation" doesn't count.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/medicare-rules-reshape-hospital-admissions-1449024342
Dec 01 2015

According to a report from AHRQ, from 2010 to 2014 there was a 17% decrease in hospital acquired conditions, but reporting and other concerns make this analysis suspect.

http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/pfp/interimhacrate2014.html?utm_source=HHSPressRelease65&utm_medium=HHSPressRelease&utm_term=HAC&utm_content=65&utm_campaign=CUSP4CAUTI2015
Dec 01 2015

CMS for some period paid some Medicare Advantage plans double bonuses as a quality incentive.  A study in Health Services Research finds that these bonuses cost Medicare $3.4 billion but did nothing to improve quality.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-6773.12409/abstract;jsessionid=C7261126601D8F545A645479848583AB.f01t01
Nov 30 2015

The mhealth solutions market for connected devices will reach $59 billion in annual revenue by 2020, according to Markets & Markets report.

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/mhealth-apps-and-solutions-market-1232.html
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