An article in Health Affairs examines imaging rates for prostate cancer patients, adding a new viewpoint to the geographic variation in care debate by finding that low imaging areas have…
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PMSI has released its 2012 Drug Trend Report for workers' compensation business. Medical costs are an increasing portion of workers' compensation payouts and drug spending, particularly for pain medications, has…
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A report from the Government Accounting Office trashes the Administration's Medicare Advantage bonus "demonstration", suggesting it was a thinly-veiled subterfuge, wasn't likely saving money and wasn't likely to improve quality.
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PriceWaterhouseCooper has issued a report on health care and social media. While there appears to be a fair amount of activity by health care providers and companies on social media…
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More delightful health facts for your edification in our most recent Potpourri, including the cost of obesity, an employer survey on wellness programs, opportunities for hospitals to reduce costs, an…
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Improving primary care is viewed as a method to lower health spending while maintaining or even improving quality. A Health Affairs article reports on a Virginia program that appears to…
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The segment of the population which is elderly and poor, thus often eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid coverage, is often not in good health and has very high expenses.…
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All the focus on quality and the effect of spending on quality of care has led to some creative research approaches to understanding what that relationship may be. A new…
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A Medicare Payment Advisory Commission report summarizes the federal incentive program for adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records and reports on progress, which appears to be very slow.
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Our latest Potpourri features the comparative cost of cancer care in the US and elsewhere, the effect of genomics on spending, international practice guidelines, state Medicaid waivers, unintended consequences from…
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The IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics has released a wonderful report on use of prescription drugs in the United States in 2011. A great deal of detailed information on therapeutic…
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In an era of multiple programs measuring outcomes and costs by provider and by disease or condition, the importance of consistent coding in the data used to do the measurement…
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One of the surprises of the expansion of health coverage in Massachusetts is that it seems to have increased emergency room use. A new study shows that this phenomenon might…
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In general, lower drug costs have helped decrease health spending growth, but specialty drug prices and use, often for cancer, have increased rapidly. New reports show these cost increases are…
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An early spring for much of the country and our latest Potpourri is in full bloom, with nuggets on health information exchanges, genetic testing guidelines, an employer survey on reform,…
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About 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.
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