The latest research on hospital readmissions, published in the NEJM, finds that the largest single factor associated with readmission rates for heart failure and pneumonia is the underlying rate of…
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The holiday season is in full swing, as is the time for bad weather, but nothing can deter the delivery of our Potpourri of health stories, including this week the…
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Health care is now full of all kinds of performance measures, and the results are increasingly used for payment-related purposes, raising their potential impact significantly. A new Rand report sponsored…
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Inpatient hospital costs are the largest single category of health care costs and account for much of the last decade's rapid annual rise in health care spending. A statistical brief…
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Another excellent draft report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reviews the evidence related to the effects of bundled payments to providers on quality and costs. The evidence,…
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Disease registries are used to track a number of patients with a common condition to determine factors which affect their outcomes and to help guide their treatment. An article in…
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Another scintillating Potpourri, focused on the effect of copayments on prescription adherence, use of PHRs in the FEHBP plans, doctors use of cancer drugs after a Medicare reimbursement change, visiting…
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An intriguing concept is explored in a paper from Deloitte: would it be possible to move some services typically delivered in a hospital to the patient's home. Based on pilot's…
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Obesity is often fingered as a leading cause of health care spending and health spending growth. It also causes significant personal discomfort to those who are overweight. A pair of…
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The most recent survey by the Center for Studying Health System Change shows not just plateauing, but an actual decline in consumers health information-seeking behavior, across all consumers. It is…
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Both providers and consumers are increasingly subjected to positive and negative inducements to behave in certain ways. An article in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine explores some possible behavioral…
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The holiday shopping season is in full swing but our Potpourri is free, filled with useful data on high-deductible health plans and utilization, Medicare Advantage plan Stars bonuses, drug complications…
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The Kaiser Foundation looks at proposals to revamp Medicare's cost-sharing design, including possible changes to Medigap benefits, finding that changes could save billions for the program and reduce costs for…
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A Press Ganey report describes trends in patient satisfaction for hospitals, outpatient departments, emergency rooms, physicians and home care and lists top priorities for patients in improving their experience of…
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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.