Another AHRQ brief on the persistence of health spending reveals there isn't that much among high-cost patients.
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A study published in the British Journal of General Practice finds that physicians who don't prescribe antibiotics when patients think they should get them are likely to have lower satisfaction scores, demonstrating again the conflict between expecting physicians to have high satisfaction scores and punishing them for not following care guidelines.
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2015/12/07/Study-Patients-less-satisfied-with-doctors-who-prescribe-fewer-antibiotics/6851449499931/MD Revolution gets $23 million in fresh capital as it ramps up its business of helping physicians maximize Medicare chronic disease management reimbursement.
http://medcitynews.com/2015/12/md-revolution-raises-23m-to-boost-staff-product-develoment/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=44060c4cee-MCN+Daily+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5092836c41-44060c4cee-408793005&rf=1Twine has strung together (or strung along) more investors and roped in an additional $6.7 million in capital to expand its health coaching business.
http://medcitynews.com/2015/12/patient-coaching-for-chronic-conditions/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=44060c4cee-MCN+Daily+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5092836c41-44060c4cee-408793005&rf=1Research sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund and published in Health Affairs finds that primary care physicians around the world struggle with care management for patients with multiple chronic conditions.
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The CMS Office of Actuary releases its estimates of 2014 national health spending, finding significant acceleration to 5.3% growth.
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Shortly after we learned that growth in health spending accelerated in 2014, the ECRI Institute says that new devices and drugs working their way to market in the near future will add $80 billion in annual spending.
https://www.ecri.org/press/Pages/ECRI-Institute-80-Billion-Annual-Spend-Drug-Device-Therapies.aspx?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-408793005GreatCall, 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-408793005About 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.