All Posts By

Kevin Roche

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 through Roche Consulting, LLC. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements and may be reached at khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.

Apr 24 2014

Altarum's report on health spending as of February 2014 shows 6.7% year-over-year growth, with the highest rate of growth in drug spending, followed by hospital inpatient and home health.  The overall growth rate is accelerating and is significantly higher than GDP growth.

http://altarum.org/sites/default/files/uploaded-related-files/CSHS-Spending-Brief_April%202014.pdf
Apr 23 2014

Megas, which makes health information software, and Unicor, which sells coding books and software, are merging to form Alpha II.

http://www.alphaii.com/AlphaII-PressRelease.aspx
Apr 23 2014

A monster.com survey finds that 42% of employees say they have left a job because of  work-related stress and a large number say that work stress has led to absenteeism and health problems.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/04/18/survey-42-of-employees-have-changed-jobs-due-to-stress/
Apr 23 2014

Keona Health has raised $2.5 million for its patient call support software.

http://www.pehub.com/2014/04/keona-health-raises-2-5-mln-in-series-a-funding/
Apr 23 2014

Wellcentive, a population health management software company, has raised additional capital to support expansion of its business.

http://www.wellcentive.com/wellcentive-raises-growth-equity/
Apr 21 2014

The HHS Office of Inspector General has issued a report recommending that Congress or CMS reduce payments for hospital outpatient surgeries to the same rates as those for freestanding surgery centers, which could save billions a yearn for CMS and beneficiaries.

http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region5/51200020.pdf
Apr 18 2014

According to a study in the British Medical Journal, as many as 12 million adults could be misdiagnosed during a medical visit, or about 5%.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20140416/NEWS/304169948/misdiagnosis-could-affect-12m-u-s-adults-annually-study-finds&utm_source=AltURL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mpdaily?AllowView=VXQ0UnpwZTVEdldZL1IzSkUvSHRlRU90amtvZEErSlY=
Apr 18 2014

Catamaran, a large PBM, has issued its version of drug trend reporting, showing a per member per month trend of 2.4% in 2013 versus 2.6% in 2012.  Upward pressure is almost all from brand drug unit price increases and greater use and cost of specialty drugs, offset by continued generic expansion.  Catamaran is anticipating that trend could be as high as 5% in 2014, 6% in 2015 and 7.7% in 2016, driven by rising specialty use.

http://www.catamaranrx.com/uploadedFiles/Documents/Trend_Report/2014-Informed-Trends.pdf
Apr 18 2014

Healthways has released the annual Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, measuring health and quality of wellness in the United States.

http://info.healthways.com/wbi2013?hsCtaTracking=9c9c8f32-9155-409b-9d68-52a652938083%7Cdb3919ad-293c-4f04-8e02-6156b65b3122&utm_campaign=Well-Being%20Index%202013&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9XQT0I0O4nkLiziYwOg_AcrLkDtE-630MU-14jvS_kSMdjGQOX_Zr2ivRyPSu_-MakCu2AKjLSDtBDv4XHawiO7WYGaQ&utm_content=12499750&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=12499750
Apr 18 2014

Nuvance, a provider of radiology solutions, has acquired Accelerad, which provides cloud-based imaging exchange services.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20140417/NEWS/304179947?AllowView=VDl3UXk1TzlDL09CbkJiYkY0M3hlMGVvaUVVZER1RT0=&utm_source=link-20140417-NEWS-304179947&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hits&utm_name=top