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 14 2014

According to a study in the American Economics Journal, more experienced nurses are more productive and lead to shorter lengths-of-stay for patients, indicating the value of retaining nurses and teams of caregivers.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/cumc-lnt041114.php
Apr 11 2014

Research from Markets and Markets suggests that the clinical decision support market will have revenues of $550 million by 2018.

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/clinical-decision-support-systems-market-18085342.html
Apr 11 2014

Rite Aid is on a tear.  The formerly struggling drug store chain, which just bought Health Dialog, is now buying RediClinic, which operates retail clinics in Texas.

http://www.themiddlemarket.com/news/rite-aid-buys-redi-clinic-249060-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Apr 11 2014

iKang Healthcare Group has gone public on NASDAQ, which seems a little unusual only because the company operates clinics in China.  The company raised over $100 million to continue expansion.

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/ikang-healthcare-group-prices-ipo-at-14-the-high-end-of-the-range-cm342474
Apr 11 2014

Summit Partners is paying $550 million for Ability Networks, which offers connectivity between providers and the Medicare program.

http://www.startribune.com/business/254783501.html
Apr 10 2014

According to Rock Health, $700 million was invested in mhealth companies, broadly defined, in the first three months of 2014, up sharply from the same period last year.

http://www.mhealthnews.com/news/mhealth-startup-vc-funding-skyrockets
Apr 10 2014

A company offering remote monitoring to detect cardiac arrhythmias, InfoBionics, has raised $17 billion as it prepares to take the device to market.

http://medcitynews.com/2014/04/digital-health-startups-device-detecting-arrhythmia-raises-17m/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=3c95d15286-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-3c95d15286-67677117
Apr 10 2014

Omada, which says it is in the business of "digital therapeutics"  (I am not laughing)  has raised $23 million (now I am) for its software and apps (what else could it be) that will help patients with chronic illnesses achieve better outcomes.

http://www.pehub.com/2014/04/andreessen-horowitz-leads-series-b-round-for-omada-health/
Apr 09 2014

Uh-oh.  A first look by Express Scripts at the new enrollees under the exchanges finds that they tend to be older and less healthy.

http://lab.express-scripts.com/insights/government-programs/first-look-health-exchange-medication-utilization
Apr 09 2014

Premier, the large hospital group purchasing organization, has acquired Memdata, which aids hospitals in construction and capital equipment purchasing.

http://www.benzinga.com/news/14/04/4451772/premier-inc-acquires-memdata
Apr 09 2014

2014 MedPAC Annual Report

http://medpac.gov/documents/Mar14_EntireReport.pdf