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.

Jan 06 2014

Dohmen, which provides a variety of business support services to companies in the medical technology and pharmaceutical industries, announced the acquisition of three firms doing business in the life sciences arena, Red Arrow Labs, ChemWare, and Clinical Path Consulting.

http://www.dohmen.com/press_release/dohmen-announces-the-acquisition-of-three-technology-companies-red-arrow-clinical-path-consulting-cpc-and-chemware/
Jan 06 2014

A medical supplies subsidiary of Convatec is acquiring 180Medical, another supplier of various home care medical supplies.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/180-medical-acquires-symbius-medical-238484881.html
Jan 06 2014

In another sign of the rising dissatisfaction with electronic medical record systems, a hospital has sued NextGen over its delivery of an EMR to the hospital.

http://www.fierceemr.com/story/hospital-sues-nextgen-over-emr-implementation/2014-01-02?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Jan 06 2014

According to Rock Health, $1.97 billion was invested in "digital health" in 2013 up almost 30% from the prior year.

http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/news-item/funding-digital-197-billion-2013
Jan 03 2014

Healthcare Data Solutions, which maintains databases of provider information, is acquiring StratCenter, which is in a similar business.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20140103/NEWS/301039957?AllowView=VDl3UXk1TzRDdmVCbkJiYkY0M3hlMEtwakVVZEQrRT0=&utm_source=link-20140103-NEWS-301039957&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hits&utm_name=top#
Jan 03 2014

An Inovalon research brief suggests that dual eligibles are more complex to manage than other Medicare Advantage beneficiaries and that they tend to drag down a plan's STAR rating.

http://www.inovalon.com/Documents/2013/INV-Impact-of-Dual-Eligibles-on-Star-Ratings-(10.30.13)-v1.0.0.pdf
Jan 03 2014

IMS Health, which was taken private a few years ago, has filed for an IPO to return to the public markets.

http://www.pehub.com/2014/01/tpg-backed-ims-health-files-for-ipo-of-up-to-100-million-reuters/
Jan 02 2014

HealthCor has agreed to make an additional $5 million investment in CareView, which provides bedside video monitoring and patient education and entertainment systems in hospitals.

http://www.pehub.com/2014/01/careview-makes-board-changes-and-secures-funds/
Jan 02 2014

In the "duh" category, research in the New England Journal of Medicine confirms that particularly for new drivers, use of cell phone significantly raises the risk of accidents.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1204142?query=featured_home
Jan 02 2014

Long-term use of anti-obesity drugs appear to help some patients achieve greater weight loss, when combined with lifestyle interventions, according to research in JAMA.

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1774038
Jan 02 2014

A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that high doses of vitamin E may delay progression of Alzheimer's disease.

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1810379
Dec 31 2013

AHRQ has published a report on how to most effectively communicate health information and research findings to various audiences.

http://www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/search-for-guides-reviews-and-reports/?pageaction=displayproduct&productID=1756