Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that Medicare beneficiaries who had poor prognosis for cancer and were treated in hospice had lower overall spending.
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A survey reported in the American Journal of Managed Care finds that use of health information technology is reducing the time physicians have to see patients; for each new system a doctor uses, capacity to see new privately insured patients drops by about 14%, although no effect was reported on Medicare or Medicaid capacity.
http://www.ajmc.com/publications/issue/2014/2014-11-vol20-sp/primary-care-capacity-as-insurance-coverage-expands-examining-the-role-of-health-information-technology/1Medicare risk-based health plans, including the current incarnation of Medicare Advantage plans, have been around for quite a while and a Kaiser Family Foundation report summarizes what we know about…
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Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development regularly estimates the average cost to bring a new compound to the market and currently says that cost is $2.56 billion, more than double what it was 11 years ago.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-18/cost-to-develop-a-drug-more-than-doubles-to-2-56-billion.htmlA study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine confirms that only about 30% of older Americans use the internet to find health information and that less than 10% of those who have serious health issues do so.
http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/Older-Americans-May-Miss-Out-on-Web-Health-Highway-49227-1.htmlZipnosis, which offers online treatment of common health problems, has received a $1.5 million investment.
http://medcitynews.com/2014/11/digital-medicine-startup-zipnosis-raises-1-5m-seed-funding/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=bc23999fcc-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-bc23999fcc-67648197ActualMeds is raising $5 million to support its business of helping patients with medication management following a hospital stay.
http://medcitynews.com/2014/11/actualmeds-raising-5m-to-roll-out-medication-management-for-chf-diabetes-patients/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=bc23999fcc-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-bc23999fcc-67648197Aon Hewitt releases its estimate of medical cost trends for employer-based health insurance for 2014 and looking into 2015.
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A survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation indicates that many Americans struggle to understand some basic health insurance concepts.
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The second open enrollment on the public health insurance exchanges began on Saturday so seems a propitious time to review the effects of the reform law.
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