A brief from the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation suggests that the growth of bundled payment and similar reimbursement methods may threaten innovation, i.e., product company profits.
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Emdeon, the large EDI and revenue cycle management vendor, is buying ChangeHealthcare, a cost transparency and provider comparison service. The price is $135 million base and up to $50 million in contingent payments, which may not be quite up in Castlight territory, but is an equally absurd valuation for something that already is largely available free to consumers.
http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/Emdeon-to-Pay-185-Million-Dollars-for-Change-Healthcare-49275-1.html?utm_campaign=daily-nov%2022%202014&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&ET=healthdatamanagement%3Ae3380598%3A3722900a%3A&st=emailResearch 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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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.