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-408793005A Journal of the American Medical Association Infographic suggests primary care doctors are pretty dissatisfied with much of what is going on in medicine.
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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-408793005Once 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-1449024342A Congressional Budget Office working paper highlights expenditure expectations related to various cohorts of Medicare beneficiaries.
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A report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute recommends a "makeover" for primary care.
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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=CUSP4CAUTI2015CMS 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.f01t01The Food and Drug Administration has noted serious concerns about use of laboratory developed tests.
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About 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.