Our penultimate Potpourri for 2012 is a festive blend of health data, including avoidance of health care due to costs, rates of expected spending increases in 2013, costs for younger…
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The other exchange in health care--health information exchanges--are designed to ensure that all the data whizzing around in all the fancy new electronic medical record systems and other provider and…
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We would all like to think that receiving health care services isn't going to make us sicker, but occasionally untoward things happen. A new report from the Agency for Healthcare…
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The reform law begins to really kick in for 2013, with many new taxes and regulations. Unpleasant surprises abound and an Oliver Wyman report for America's Health Insurance Plans examines…
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A new 2012 physicians compensation survey reveals interesting data about how much doctors work, what they are paid, what kinds of practices they are in and how they feel about…
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In this holiday season, it is a time for giving presents and our latest Potpourri presents you with many gifts of health information, including some positive news about an ACO…
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The Congressional Budget Office releases a presentation on how it calculates long-term projections fro Medicare and Medicaid spending. More than a little frightening, and the absence of serious bipartisan discussion…
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For reasons that are truly mysterious, the Medicare Advantage program has been controversial. New research published in Health Affairs shows that the program has better utilization and spending control than…
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Medication adherence is a serious quality of care issue, although its cost implications are often exaggerated. Research continues apace to understand why people don't take their drugs and what interventions…
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One of the selling points for prescription drugs has been that their use often prevents use of more costly services, like hospitalizations. A new brief from the Congressional Budget Office…
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Our latest Potpourri captures the excitement of the holidays with scintillating items on certificate of need program effects on utilization, the public's views on health care costs and government's role…
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Medication non-adherence has many causes and is likely a serious quality issue. Capgemini, the consulting group, has released a report claiming that such non-adherence adds hundreds of billions of dollars…
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Actuarial firm Oliver Wyman issues a report on Accountable Care Organizations, using questionable math to create the headline-grabbing number of 10% of Americans being covered by ACOs. The report basically…
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The National Committee for Quality Assurance releases its annual report on the state of health care quality in America, based on its collection of various quality measures from health plans.…
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is forever tinkering with reimbursement for various providers, usually not getting exactly the results it seeks. An example of this is given in…
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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.