Another paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, this one examining consumer behavior in the context of the Medicare Part D exchange and finding that beneficiary inertia seems to…
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The Dartmouth Atlas project has made its name by studying regional variations in health care utilization, spending and quality, with a core finding that substantial variation exists which does not…
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Another installment of our non-award winning (are there any potential awards?) Potpourri, this one examining drug costs for conditions of aging, self-referral in imaging, in home palliative care at the…
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Our last episode for the week of health spending is a useful report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which provides an analysis of health expenditures in the United States, focusing…
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Today's report relating to American health expenditures comes from the Bipartisan Policy Center and looks at the drivers for our health care spending growth. All the usual suspects are rounded…
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The Urban Institute issued a report examining health care spending trends in the United States prior to the passage of the federal health care reform using MEPS data from 2001…
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This week will be health care spending week, as we have collected several reports relating to spending trends, starting with a California HealthCare Foundation report examining components of health care…
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The light fades but not our evanescent Potpourri, this week featuring stories on computerized point of entry ordering, the presence of large treatment effects in research, characteristics of patients with…
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In yet another piece evaluating the effectiveness to-date of pay-for-performance programs, Health Affairs carries a review of research on the topic, finding that results are mixed. Some seem to have…
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A new report from the Urban Institute examines the controversial issue of the impact of the Patient Protection Act on businesses of various sizes, showing that for small businesses it…
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More research, this time from the Journal of the American Medical Association, to suggest that another quality improvement technique, this time public reporting of outcomes, does not achieve the intended…
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Research reported in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services program of not paying for certain hospital acquired infections is not working,…
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It is cooling down across most of the country, but our Potpourri remains red-hot, with nuggets on the moderation in health spending over the last few years, how to change…
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PriceWaterhouseCooper publishes a report on the status of health insurance exchanges and issues which states and employers are considering as exchanges slowly lumber toward reality.
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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.