A study at Duke finds that an intervention to improve medication adherence by patients after a hospital stay did a good job at that but did not significantly affect readmissions.
http://hin.com/Healthcare_Business_Weekly_Update/2013/11/25/staying-on-medication-%20%20may-not-lower-hospital-readmissions/The HHS Office of Inspector General releases its annual strategic plan, which is must reading for anyone involved with Medicare, Medicaid or other government programs. EHRs will be a focus of investigations.
http://oig.hhs.gov/reports-and-publications/strategic-plan/files/OIG-Strategic-Plan-2014-2018.pdfI wish you all a very happy and relaxing Thanksgiving. While there are many problems in our nation and the world and we may each have our personal trials and…
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A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine surveys research on the effect of patient portals and finds little evidence that this form of communication between patients and doctors either improves quality or lowers costs, although patients do like using them.
http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1770672A new report from the Health Systems Innovation Network provides data on the costs of the Medicaid expansion for states. The report should serve as an early warning call to…
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According to a survey reported in VentureBeat, half of angel investors regret an investment they made, usually because of overly optimistic financial projections. Angel investing is important to innovation, as they put $20 billion into companies a year, so hopefully the disappointment doesn't lead to closed wallets.
http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/21/half-of-angel-investors-regret-investments-they-made-this-year-survey/In areas where Medicare Advantage payments are still high, patients can get high-end treatment from specialized clinics, as detailed in a Miami Herald story. Unfortunately, these clinics may add to the perception that MA plans are overpaid, even though they are doing an outstanding job for patients.
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/November/26/White-Gloved-Medicare-Plans-In-Miami.aspxThe FDA has ordered 23andMe to stop selling its personalized genetic testing kits direct to consumers, highlighting the tension between consumer access to their genetic information and the regulatory need to ensure accuracy of tests and govern how the data is interpreted and used.
http://medcitynews.com/2013/11/23andme-receives-fda-warning-letter-spit-kits-violation/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=86e7021cf7-RSS_Daily+Top+Stories&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-86e7021cf7-67648197About this Blog
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. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.