A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine on treatment options for prostate cancer illustrates the perils of evidence-based medicine.
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The latest survey from the National Business Group on Health and Towers Watson gives further insight on the employer mindset as reform unfolds.
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A study in the journal Telemedicine and eHealth finds that patients who use virtual visits do not have fewer in-person visits; in fact the same people tend to be high utilizers of both tele-visits and in-person ones. The study was conducted at the Mayo Clinic and suggests that virtual visits may be additive to utilization and costs, not substitutive.
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/patient-portal-messaging-tele-visits-do-not-affect-in-person-physician-visit-frequency-say-mayo-researchers.htmlAccording to Avalere Health, Medicare Advantage enrollment continued to grow for the 2014 year, with enrollment rising to 15.9 million people, almost 30% of all beneficiaries. This was a 9% gain from 2013, in spite of concerns about reimbursement cuts. Medicare Part D enrollment also grew.
http://avalerehealth.net/expertise/managed-care/insights/medicare-advantage-and-part-d-plans-see-enrollment-increase-with-payment-anA survey from Sullivan Cotter and Associates indicates that the gap between primary care and specialist physician pay has begun to narrow, with an increase of 5.7% for primary care doctors and about 3% for specialists. But the absolute gap is still huge, with primary care doctors averaging around $200-250,000 while specialists can earn multiples of that.
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-issues/pay-gap-between-specialists-primary-care-physicians-diminishing.htmlAn article in the Medicare & Medicaid Research Review examines correlates of state-level per capita health spending, finding that income, capacity and share of the elderly are important factors.
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Greenway Medical Technologies, a large EHR vendor, is acquiring PeopleLYNK, which provides services to help providers keep patients engaged and retained.
http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/greenway-buy-targets-patient-engagement-47362-1.html?utm_campaign=daily-mar%205%202014&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletterOne of the first rigorous studies of the medical home concept, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, finds little effect on quality or cost.
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According to a survey, 69% of doctors say defensive medicine is a leading cause of excessive health spending, 65% say the aging population is one, 60% blame rising drug costs and 51% say increasing use of technology. Apparently high provider incomes and charges was not on the list.
http://www.beckersasc.com/asc-turnarounds-ideas-to-improve-performance/physicians-top-10-major-drivers-of-healthcare-costs.htmlAbout 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.
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