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.

Mar 03 2014

Everyday Health, which offers health and wellness services and analytics for consumers, has filed for an initial public offering.  It should be obvious to everyone by now that these are overcrowded spaces and these IPO filings are clear signs of a market top and impending bust in several health care areas.

http://www.pehub.com/2014/02/vc-backed-everyday-health-files-for-ipo/
Mar 03 2014

3M's health information group announced it is acquired Treo Solutions, which assists in developing value-based payment methods.

http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/3M-to-acquire-Treo-Solutions-47305-1.html?utm_campaign=daily-feb%2026%202014&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
Mar 03 2014

According to KLAS, half of all 200+ bed hospitals will select a new EHR by 2016, but most have already decided which vendor they will use.

http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/half-of-hospitals-will-purchase-new-EHR-47326-1.html?utm_campaign=daily-mar%201%202014&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
Mar 02 2014

A study reported in the Journal of Rural Health finds that about 40% of doctors in rural areas think they should talk to patients about the cost of their health care, while only 30% of urban physicians have a similar belief.

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-physician-relationships/survey-rural-physicians-more-likely-to-discuss-care-with-patients.html
Mar 02 2014

Hearst Health has invested in Tonic Health, which has an animated application for filling out medical screening forms and other uses.

http://medcitynews.com/2014/02/tonic-brings-contextually-relevant-graphics-text-health-assessment-interface/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=e6b3883a71-RSS_Daily+Top+Stories&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-e6b3883a71-67648197
Mar 02 2014

Nonprofits Healthwise and the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation are merging.  Both entities provide health care decision-making aids.

http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/a-force-for-good-healthwise-and-the-informed-medical-decisions-foundation-merge-1880918.htm
Mar 02 2014

Deloitte has announced the launch of ConvergeHealth, which will provide data analytics tools and consulting to the health care and life sciences industries.

http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/press/Press-Releases/070677a340b44410VgnVCM2000003356f70aRCRD.htm
Mar 02 2014

My Fitness Pal has bulked up by acquiring Sessions, a personal coaching app.

http://www.pehub.com/2014/02/myfitnesspal-buys-vc-backed-health-startup-sessions/
Mar 02 2014

MD Revolution raised about $7 million for yet another wellness and health management app aimed at consumers.

http://www.pehub.com/2014/02/health-startup-md-revolution-scores-7-mln/
Mar 02 2014

Health benefits administration MultiPlan has been sold by one set of PE firms to another set, apparently for about $4.4 billion.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/02/17/investors-close-to-buying-health-care-services-firm-multiplan/?_php=true&_type=blogs&module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Healthcare&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body&utm_campaign=KHN%3A+Daily+Health+Policy+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=11970895&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8NgoKE__u0zl244c522Hbtwjxtnw5di2v23F_LK_lrUgAxp7eySRSzuh8Vhc7iNUwkqStvxHHe9k7zxF2Qn9O39dLoqQ&_hsmi=11970895&_r=0
Mar 02 2014

Ambient Clinical Analytics, which will commercialize Mayo's decision support tools for the ER and ICU, has received over $1 million in initial funding.

http://medcitynews.com/2014/02/mayo-docs-data-management-emergency-department-icu/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=c99b2c903f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-c99b2c903f-67648197
Mar 02 2014

Startup MedWhat has raised $560,000 for its app that answers consumers' health care related questions.

http://medcitynews.com/2014/02/medical-qa-app-developer-medwhat-raises-seed-capital-advance-machine-learning/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=c99b2c903f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-c99b2c903f-67648197
Mar 02 2014

Research from Parks Associates suggests that virtual doctor visits will grow by 65% in the period to 2018, with revenue of $13.7 billion associated with the visits.

http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/news-item/virtual-doctor-patient-video-consultations-grow-65-percent-2018
Mar 02 2014

According to a report from consulting firm Denevir, there were about 10.7 million HSA accounts holding around $20 billion in assets in 2013.

http://www.devenir.com/research/year-end-2013-devenir-hsa-research-report/