More hospitals are being penalized, and penalized more on average, under Medicare's value-based purchasing program. Some hospitals are also getting bonuses. It is unclear what the consequences of the program are or will be on hospital behavior and patient care.
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/November/14/value-based-purchasing-medicare.aspx?utm_source=medicaretop&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=111813Research in the Journal of the American Medical Association reviews tools used to help engaged depressed patients in treating their condition.
Read More
A survey from Humana indicates that on average Medicare beneficiaries spend 22 hours making a decision on Medicare choices, including selection of a Medicare Advantage plan. About 64% said that quality and keeping their current physician were the most important factors in their decisions.
http://humana.newshq.businesswire.com/press-release/many-medicare-beneficiaries-spending-nearly-24-hours-researching-and-selecting-their-mIn yet another piece of work relevant to the functioning of the reform law, researchers looked at the effect of product standardization on consumer choice, as reflected in the experience…
Read More
A survey from the Chamber of Commerce and the International Franchise Association indicates that many small businesses have already reduced hiring or hours in response to the reform law and that most believe their health care costs either already have or will go up as a result of the law.
http://www.franchise.org/Franchise-News-Detail.aspx?id=61271A survey from United Benefit Advisors reveals employer health plan trends in 2013 that may spill over into 2014.
Read More
Scanadu has raised $10.5 million to continue to develop and sell its device that records various biometrics and uses software to help store, analyze and communicate the results. More frenzied app hype.
http://allthingsd.com/20131112/scanadu-raises-10-5-million-to-help-make-its-medical-tricorder-a-reality/In a new report, the Government Accounting Office examines a number of federal information technology projects, including several for health purposes, and finds that the sponsoring agencies were not conducting adequate operational assessments for the projects. This probably was at least part of the problem with the insurance exchange website.
http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/658794.pdfA report from the HHS Office of Inspector General suggests that hospital "list" prices do have an effect on some Medicare reimbursements, specifically those for "outlier" cases, which involve lengthy and expensive stays. The report suggests some hospitals are manipulating coding and charges, potentially costing the government an extra few billion a year.
http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-06-10-00520.pdfAbout 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.