A brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation looks at out-of-pocket spending by Medicare Beneficiaries, including premiums and service cost-sharing. For some seniors, these numbers are pretty large.
Read More
Symphony Technology Group has completed its acquisition of System C from McKesson. Symphony is a private equity investor and System C is a large vendor of health care software in the UK.
http://www.symphonytg.com/symphony-completes-acquisition-of-system-c-from-mckesson-and-announces-a-new-leadership-team/Research in JAMA finds that for the top 10% of Medicare beneficiaries in annual spending, only a small percent of that cost is due to avoidable ER visits and hospitalizations could be avoided by better outpatient care. Darn, another theory shot down.
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1699911The Government Accounting Office reviews drug spending for DOD, Medicare and Medicaid; finding that Medicaid generally paid the lowest prices, in some cases substantially lower.
Read More
A survey by The Associated Press confirms that most Americans have little faith in their ability to select doctors based on quality, with only 22% saying they are confident they can find and use quality information to compare physicians. Sixty percent rely on friends and family. Only 4% think they get poor quality care, contrary to what research suggests. Most judge doctors on characteristics like friendliness and listening. And having insurance coverage for a particular doctor is very important.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/doctors-check-vitals-check-24637964?singlePage=trueKeeping guidelines consistent with the latest scientific evidence may not be happening as consistently as it should be, according to research in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Read More
Health Insurance Innovations, a company offering health plan administration services, has purchased HealthPocket, which provides health plan and health services purchasing data for consumers. The purchase price was about $31 million.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/globenewswire/10089276.htmAccording to a study in the Annals of Family Medicine, greater use of text and telephone communication with diabetes patients was associated with an increase in in-person office visits, contrary to hopes that these cheaper forms of clinical interaction would reduce office visits and save on costs.
http://annfammed.org/content/12/4/338.fullAbout 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.