A brief from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality looks at trends in health care spending for the elderly.
Read More
A study done by NBC News finds that surgery prices have been rising fairly rapidly. About a 100 million procedures are performed a year in the US, at a per capita rate 50% above that in Europe and with a cost of $500 billion. There is enormous variation in prices in the same region and costs for many common surgeries are up over 500% since 2009.
http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/26415093/surgery-prices-surge-with-innovation-and-consolidation-under-obamacareBest Doctors, which helps consumers find and rates physicians, has purchased Rise Medical, which provides population health management services.
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20140903/NEWS/309039943?AllowView=VDl3UXk1T3dDdmVCbkJiYkY0M3hlMHFwakVVZER1VT0=&utm_source=link-20140903-NEWS-309039943&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hits&utm_name=topIf you think that state employees have gold-plated health coverage, you are right according to a study from Pew and the MacArthur Foundation.
Read More
Referral management software vendor Clarity has raised $1.89 million in new capital.
http://medcitynews.com/2014/09/physician-referral-software-co-uses-1-8m-expand-service-ny-mass-practices/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=a35e6e3534-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-a35e6e3534-67648197Before ACOs, CMS ran the Medicare Physician Group Practice demonstration, which showed minor cost savings and quality improvements.
Read More
A study in Medical Care finds that for small community medical practices, providing incentives for improvement on certain quality measures, coupled with technical assistance, did lead to significant increases in performance on those measures, but also led to lower performance on other, unincented, quality measures. This demonstrates the oft-feared unintended consequence of pay-for-performance, it diverts attention from overall care quality.
http://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/Abstract/2014/09000/The_Intended_and_Unintended_Consequences_of.10.aspx?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+Daily+Health+Policy+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=13960954&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8R-IQTu4G4PLgBsFZRz2zY9bj-XZNJ8Wd95njtcu8H5S1Qco5YHgwwm6awrbB4305uqpBcYAlr2eM-i7WM3M-chkydLQ&_hsmi=13960954E-prescribing plus formulary decision support did not have a significant effect on medication non-adherence, according to a new paper.
Read More
Here is an example of a stupid regulation solely designed to protect the interests of existing providers. Georgia's proposed telemedicine rule requires a face-to-face consultation before use of telemedicine and you have to have a Georgia license. Telemedicine could significantly reduce spending by decreasing unit costs, but not if it has to cope with this kind of lunacy.
http://ehrintelligence.com/2014/08/25/updated-ga-telemedicine-guidelines-require-in-person-visit/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.