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.

Oct 24 2013

Health consultant Sherlock Company's 19th annual health plan pricing survey indicates that plans are anticipating 9.6% rate increases in 2014, which may be reduced to 6.8% after benefit changes.  This rate of change would be an uptick from the past several years and likely reflects effects of the reform law.

http://www.sherlockco.com/docs/navigator/Navigator%20Late%20October%202013.pdf
Oct 24 2013

The health reform law doesn't need more evidence at this point of what a disaster it is, but the New York Times carries an article revealing that consumers in rural areas are going to pay a particularly high price when they go shopping for health insurance on the non-functioning exchanges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/business/health-law-fails-to-keep-prices-low-in-rural-areas.html?emc=edit_tnt_20131023&tntemail0=y&_r=0
Oct 24 2013

Health Systems International, a company which assists payers in avoiding fraud and inappropriate provider reimbursement, has acquired The Reclaim Group, which provides similar services.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11246703.htm
Oct 24 2013

According to the Leapfrog Group hospitals have made little improvement in patient safety in the last year.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20131023/NEWS/310239957?AllowView=VW8xUmo5Q21TcWJOb1gzb0tNN3RLZ0h0MWg5SVgra3NZRzROR3l0WWRMWGFWUDhDRWxiNUtpQzMyWmFyNVg4WUpibW0=&utm_source=link-20131023-NEWS-310239957&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mpdaily
Oct 24 2013

WellTok, a population health management and wellness company, announced that it has acquired IncentOne, which was an early pioneer in providing incentives for wellness and care management programs.

http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/welltok-acquires-leading-health-incentive-management-company-set-new-performance-standard-1843386.htm
Oct 24 2013

According to a KPMG survey, about 60% of providers would be happy about getting bundled payments and 38% said they are already receiving them.

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/racs-/-icd-9-/-icd-10/more-than-60-of-providers-see-opportunity-in-bundled-payments.html
Oct 24 2013

BetterDoctor has raised $2.6 million for its approach to providing consumers with a doctor finding and rating tool.

http://medcitynews.com/2013/10/mobile-physician-finder-service-raises-2-6m/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=301780795f-RSS_Daily+Top+Stories&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-301780795f-67648197
Oct 24 2013

A Wisconsin startup called Wellbe has gotten $1.4 million in initial capital for a software tool that helps patients as they go through episodes of hospital-based care.

http://medcitynews.com/2013/10/wellbe-raises-1-4-million/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=301780795f-RSS_Daily+Top+Stories&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c05cce483a-301780795f-67648197
Oct 24 2013

Cureatr, a startup which provides a mobile care coordination tool for providers, raised $5.7 million in capital.

http://www.pehub.com/2013/10/24/cureatr-raises-5-7mln-series-a/
Oct 23 2013

As a concession to single-payer advocates, the reform law created public coop plans as an alternative, but an article in the Washington Post finds that they are flailing, with many in financial trouble and likely to default on billions of dollars in loans.
Oct 23 2013

Express Scripts apparently intends to drop a number of brand-name drugs from its national formulary, which may reflect a new trend in aggressiveness to control spending.

http://www.drugchannels.net/2013/10/express-scripts-and-inevitability-of.html#more
Oct 22 2013

The President acknowledges that the health insurance exchanges are screwed up and says the best experts in the country are working on fixing them, which only raises the question--what kind of idiots did you have working on it before and why?
Oct 21 2013

The New England Journal of Medicine carries several Perspectives discussing the need for physicians to be aware of and discuss with patients the cost of treatment in a world with greatly increased consumer cost-sharing.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1306826?query=featured_home