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.

Nov 11 2013

A study in Health Psychology finds that how order sets are presented in an EHR may affect how many tests are ordered.  Using a default opt-out or recommended by experts option led to more appropriate tests being used, but also increased health spending.

http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/news-item/altered-electronic-order-set-could-create-cost-savings-better-care
Nov 07 2013

Passport Health Communications is being acquired by Experian for $850 million.  Passport helps health care providers manage their revenue cycles and obtain payment.

http://www.passporthealth.com/about_us/news/13-11-06/Passport_to_be_Acquired_by_Experian.aspx?CntPageID=1
Nov 07 2013

As government auditors begin to look at the billions of dollars in EHR incentive payments, firms are having to return some of them that were inappropriately received.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20131106/NEWS/311069943/some-ehr-payments-going-back-to-government-as-auditors-look-into?AllowView=VW8xUmo5Q21TcWJOb1gzb0tNN3RLZ0h0MWg5SVgra3NZRzROR3l0WWRMWGFWZjBIRWxiNUtpQzMyWmFxNTNvWUpiaWliUVF3eWtaVTUyZUZRZUl3bWlhUnFNV3JIOWk2WHFVZFI2b0MzNjJ1YTY2bTdOTkVidFNZOUU1akZ1czFtQzhEb3ZRcFMzL3B3MEpXNkJtblVaTHg4Ylk9
Nov 06 2013

ShapeUp, another of the plethora of companies operating in the health and wellness space, has raised an additional $7.5 million to expand its mobile capabilities in wellness program engagement and operation.

http://www.pehub.com/2013/11/06/cue-ball-capital-excel-venture-management-lead-7-5-mln-investment-round-shapeup/
Nov 06 2013

Cigna has announced an alliance with Samsung under which they will collaborate to create health and wellness features for Samsung's mobile phones.

http://newsroom.cigna.com/NewsReleases/cigna-and-samsung-team-up-to-deliver-digital-health-improvement-platform-worldwide.htm
Nov 05 2013

From the we told you so department, early enrollments at the health exchange suggest young people aren't buying, which means an adverse selection shock for the health plans.  Now we know why the large insurers very wisely largely stayed out of the exchanges.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303661404579178231174626314
Nov 05 2013

In a truly baffling decision, HHS has decided to allow drug manufacturers to offer copay assistance to purchasers of commercial health plans on the health exchanges.  The practice raises costs for everyone by encouraging inappropriate use of very expensive drugs.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303843104579172090415391168
Nov 05 2013

A Wall Street Journal article notes the difficulties medical device startups are having in finding funding, largely due to more extensive regulation and reimbursement pressures.  Innovative treatment development will suffer, as will patients.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304470504579164122110690860
Nov 04 2013

IOD Inc., a vendor of health information systems, has acquired ApeniMed, which specializes in health information exchange products.

http://www.iodincorporated.com/iod-incorporated-acquires-apenimed-technology-to-streamline-release-of-information-efforts/
Nov 04 2013

Medseek, a provider of software to hospitals and other provider organizations, has acquired SymphonyCare, which offers population health management tools for providers.  This acquisition is part of the ongoing trend for HIT vendors to offer broader wellness and care management solutions to providers, particularly those at risk for care costs.

http://medseek.com/news/medseek-acquires-symphonycare