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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.

Jan 24 2014

UnitedHealth Group is apparently planning to acquire Audax Health, which makes gaming-style health assessment and patient engagement software.

http://medcitynews.com/2014/01/audax-health-unitedhealth-deal-nothing-announce/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=4ac6a19742-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-4ac6a19742-67648197
Jan 24 2014

7wireventures has invested in Wiser Together, crowd-sourcing platform to help people with medical decisions.  Yes, lets all let strangers help us with our health issues.

http://7wireventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/7wireVenturesInvestsinWiserTogether.pdf
Jan 24 2014

A report from the American Action Forum suggests that for most young adults paying the penalty is a better economic deal than getting health insurance.

http://americanactionforum.org/research/to-buy-or-not-to-buy-uninsured-young-adults-and-the-perverse-economic-incen
Jan 24 2014

Healthcare Bluebook raised $7 million for its product to help create greater price transparency.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140114005234/en/Healthcare-Bluebook-Raises-7M-Companies-Deal-Rising#.UuE4gP16hz8
Jan 24 2014

A perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine critiques the application of Medicare value-based purchasing to physicians, pointing out that doctors have not accepted the system or the specific quality measures and participation is likely to be very limited until a better and less expensive system is implemented.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1312287
Jan 24 2014

DocsInk, a startup providing mobile administrative services to medical practices, has raised about $1 million.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/docsink/chargecapture/prweb11485038.htm
Jan 24 2014

Startup First Opinion has raised $1.2 million for its app that allows patients to find and communicate with physicians.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/14/with-1-2m-from-greylock-yuri-milner-and-500-startups-first-opinion-lets-you-text-a-doctor-anytime/
Jan 24 2014

A JAMA Viewpoint discusses use of guidelines by physicians,  opining that guideline adherence is still spotty, costing the system billions and lowering quality, and recommending methods to improve both guidelines and use of them.

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1787420
Jan 23 2014

Surgical Information Systems, which does what its name suggests, has acquired AmKai Solutions, which also offers software and data analytics to surgery providers.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/surgical-information-systems-acquires-healthcare-software-leader-amkaisolutions-2014-01-14
Jan 23 2014

Streamline Health, which provides knowledge management systems to health care industry participants, has agreed to acquire Unibase Systems, which offers patient access software.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/streamline-health-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-unibased-systems-architecture-inc-240614191.html
Jan 23 2014

Veria Living, which provides  a multiplatform approach to health and wellness information, has acquired dLife, which provides information and a social community for patients with diabetes.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/veria-living-expands-role-in-health-wellness-space-with-dlife-acquisition-240487401.html
Jan 23 2014

MDLive has received an additional $23.6 million in funding for its tele health platform.

http://www.pehub.com/2014/01/mdlive-grabs-23-6-mln/
Jan 23 2014

Cloud-based EHR provider Kareo has raised about $30 million to bring its free core application to more physicians.  Kareo makes money by selling add-on capabilities.

http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/21/kareo-nabs-30m-to-bring-cloud-tools-to-medical-practices-starting-with-a-free-ehr/
Jan 23 2014

A perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine points out that although the Medicare physician value-based purchasing program starts this year, doctors generally are unprepared and unengaged and there are more issues with this program than the comparable one for hospitals, including a lack of predecessor programs, sample size and measure issues and reward/penalty design.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1311957
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