An Aon Hewitt survey of employers finds that around 70% intend to adopt reference pricing and that a large number plan to use "gating" strategies in the future to give employees richer benefit designs, but only if they take certain actions to ensure cost-effective care and healthy behaviors. Per person pricing, reduced dependent subsidies and more use of health cost transparency tools are also growing strategies.
http://aon.mediaroom.com/2014-06-11-Aon-Hewitt-Survey-Shows-U-S-Employers-Interested-in-Exploring-Stricter-Rules-Around-Health-Benefits-and-Reference-Based-Pricing-as-Part-of-their-Health-StrategyTwo articles in Health Affairs examine the likelihood that by not incorporating socioeconomic factors, the Medicare readmission penalties are hurting hospitals that serve large numbers of low-income patients.
Read More
Doctors would seldom chose aggressive end-of-life care for themselves, although they often order it for patients, according to research in PLoS One. Almost all doctors have or would have advance directives declining resuscitation or other heroic measures.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0098246We know medical spending tends to grow rapidly in the United States--what is happening in the rest of the world? A Towers Watson survey attempts to answer that question.
Read More
The IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics issued a report on cancer care facts and trends.
Read More
A TowersWatson survey finds that 59% of workers are satisfied with their health benefits, a drop of 10% since 2007, with older workers and those in poorer health reporting the lowest levels of satisfaction. Cost is the greatest source of discontent with health benefits.
http://www.towerswatson.com/en-US/Insights/Newsletters/Americas/insider/2014/retirement-security-tops-list-of-employee-concernsResearch in Health Affairs finds that ambulatory surgery centers take significantly less time per procedure than do hospital outpatient surgery centers, with lower costs and equal or better outcomes, suggesting that their use should be encouraged.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/33/5/764.abstractA study published in Health Affairs examines the effects of the recession on hospital finances, finding that the weak stayed weak but largely survived.
Read More
Axial Healthcare has received an investment of $1.75 million to build out clinical decision support tools for pain medication therapies.
http://medcitynews.com/2014/06/axial-healthcare-raises-1-8m-big-data-approach-pain-management/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=f0f22cd68e-RSS_Daily+Top+Stories&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-f0f22cd68e-67648197About 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.
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Overcast
PocketCasts
Radio Public
Stitcher
Anchor
RSS - Posts