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.

Jan 25 2015

MedPAC's Dual Eligible Data Book

http://www.medpac.gov/documents/data-book/january-2015-medpac-and-macpac-data-book-beneficiaries-dually-eligible-for-medicare-and-medicaid.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Jan 25 2015

Meeting Materials from MedPAC's January 2015 Meeting

http://www.medpac.gov/-documents-/meeting-materials
Jan 24 2015

Walgreens is spinning its infusion business into a separate company to be majority owned by a private equity firm.

http://news.walgreens.com/press-releases/walgreens-and-madison-dearborn-partners-announce-agreement-for-walgreens-infusion-services.htm
Jan 24 2015

Another headsmacker.  The Commonwealth Fund, which unfortunately has a tendency to confuse ideology and research, has determined that for rate increases required to be filed for review under the reform law; i.e. those over 10%, medical costs were the primary cause for the requested increase.  Really, you don't say.

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/files/publications/issue-brief/2015/jan/1801_mccue_whats_behind_hlt_ins_rate_increases_ib.pdf
Jan 24 2015

According to research in Health Affairs, Medicare's quality reporting system for hospitals may have led to lower price increases for coronary artery bypass graft and percutaneous coronary intervention.

http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/34/1/71.abstract
Jan 23 2015

Here's a shock, if you pay physicians more, they will see more Medicaid patients, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.  Now what is going to happen when the extra Medicaid payments expire?

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1413299
Jan 23 2015

Scio Health Analytics has acquired Data Intelligence, a UK data analytics company.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scio-health-analytics-acquires-data-intelligence-uk-300019626.html
Jan 23 2015

Contract research organization Clinipace has raised $50 million in fresh investment, primarily for acquisitions.

http://www.fiercecro.com/story/clinipace-banks-50m-scout-more-deals/2015-01-19
Jan 23 2015

While about 1700 hospitals are scheduled to receive quality bonus payments from Medicare, Kaiser Family Foundation reports that most in essence won't get it because they will be subject to penalties under programs like the readmissions reduction one that reduce their payments.

http://kaiserhealthnews.org/news/1700-hospitals-win-quality-bonuses-from-medicare-but-most-will-never-collect/
Jan 23 2015

A study from the Blue Cross association verifies again that providers get paid very different amounts for the same service, even within the same geographic area much less across them.

http://www.bcbs.com/healthcare-news/bcbsa/bcbsa-study-reveals-extreme-cost-variations-for-knee-and-hip-replacement-surgeries.html
Jan 21 2015

Startup CareCam has garnered an undisclosed investment from Blue Cross plan Independence Health to support its business of a mobile adherence platform for chronic conditions.

http://medcitynews.com/2015/01/former-walgreens-execs-digital-health-biz-gets-investment-indep-blue-cross/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=20b1b3638a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-20b1b3638a-67648197
Jan 21 2015

Health Recovery Solutions gets $1 million in fresh capital to help tract heart failure patients leaving the hospital, to prevent readmissions.

http://medcitynews.com/2015/01/health-recovery-solutions-raises-1m-to-support-early-warning-system-for-chf-patients/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=20b1b3638a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-20b1b3638a-67648197