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.

Jul 13 2015

SilverVue, a provider of unclear, at least from reading the press release, telehealth and care transition services, has acquired ProMD, which offers communications services between hospitals and recently discharged patients.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/silvervue-acquires-promd-and-expands-its-portfolio-of-hospital-readmissions-reduction-technologies-300107762.html
Jul 13 2015

Large publisher Elsevier has acquired InferMed, a clinical decision support software and content company, to add to Elsevier's suite of health information products.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/elsevier-acquires-infermed-provider-of-clinical-decision-support-technology-511137731.html
Jul 13 2015

Patient-monitoring firm CareView Communications has arranged for up to $40 million in debt financing.

http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/careview-communications-announces-40-million-financing-transaction-with-pdl-biopharma-20150629-00949
Jul 13 2015

CMS' penalties for health care acquired infections in hospitals did not change the rate of such infections; i.e., the policy didn't work, according to research published in an infection control journal.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25732568
Jul 13 2015

Scaling the heights of fishy journalism, the Washington Post reveals that fish oil supplements are a $1.2 billion industry with no scientific evidence of benefits.  This story isn't fin-ished yet.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/claims-that-fish-oil-boosts-health-linger-despite-science-saying-the-opposite/2015/07/08/db7567d2-1848-11e5-bd7f-4611a60dd8e5_story.html?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+First+Edition&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20486241&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_1Ea0qA25cWKPqVfJWbH_wNi0r3qCzP0jSLzft2ZvKxlM-TMoROcalz6CsvtcNi1_Zql8ah0_zbUQ29HvimSWUqGeerQ&_hsmi=20486241
Jul 12 2015

The 2015 MedPAC Report to Congress

http://www.medpac.gov/documents/reports/june-2015-report-to-the-congress-medicare-and-the-health-care-delivery-system.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Jul 12 2015

The reform law established and provided funding for community-based non-profit health plans.  A GAO report finds that these plans tend to have lower premiums but have had mixed enrollment success.  Some have already gone bust.

http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/669945.pdf
Jul 10 2015

CMS 2016 Proposed Home Health Rule

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-07-10/pdf/2015-16790.pdf
Jul 10 2015

CMS Bundled Payment Rules

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/assets/pdf/CH10040879.PDF
Jul 10 2015

The Medical Memory offers technology for providers to video patient visits and share the videos with patients and has raised $2.1 million to support growth.

https://www.pehub.com/2015/07/the-medical-memory-grabs-2-1-mln-seed/
Jul 10 2015

According to the Medical Group Management Association, primary care doctors earned an average of around $241,000 in 2014, while specialists averaged $412,000; but primary care pay is rising more rapidly than that of specialists.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2015/07/07/doctor-pay-eclipses-240000-as-value-based-model-boosts-primary-care/
Jul 10 2015

Medicare is planning on requiring certain hospitals to accept a bundled payment for knee and hip replacements.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150709/NEWS/150709916?utm_source=modernhealthcare&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150709-NEWS-150709916&utm_campaign=mh-alert
Jul 10 2015

PipelineRx gathered in $9.1 million in fresh capital for its telepharmacy business, primarily sold to hospitals.

http://medcitynews.com/2015/07/pipelinerx-scores-9-1m-in-new-vc-as-telepharmacy-heats-up/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=f0e0056950-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-f0e0056950-67677117