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 16 2014

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine finds that meeting meaningful use requirements in regard to seven performance measures for chronic disease care is only slightly associated with improvement on two performance measures, with worse performance on two and no difference in performance on three.

https://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1860495
Apr 16 2014

eCaring has raised $3.5 million for its product to use remote monitoring to help keep seniors in their homes rather than being institutionalized.

http://medcitynews.com/2014/04/ecaring-raises-3-5-million-for-monitoring-program-to-support-aging-in-place/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=d1fd0d6cea-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-d1fd0d6cea-67648197
Apr 15 2014

Swedish firm Lifesum has received $6.7 million to take its weight loss app global.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-14/bauer-media-sparklabs-invest-in-swedish-digital-app-lifesum
Apr 15 2014

Truven Health Analytics has acquired Simpler Consulting to bolster its capability to help health care organizations reshape themselves and use the data that Truven provides.

http://www.pehub.com/2014/04/pe-backed-truven-health-analytics-acquires-simpler-consulting/
Apr 15 2014

The Mercom Capital regular report on health care information technology financings and transactions shows that over $850 million was invested in the first quarter of 2014.

http://store.mercom.mercomcapital.com/products-page/healthcare-it-reports/hit-q12014-funding-report/
Apr 14 2014

A survey of hospital administrators by Jackson Healthcare reveals that over half think most doctors practice defensive medicine, that defensive medicine has a substantial effect on costs, with an uncertain effect on quality.

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