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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A new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research explores whether increased cost-sharing in health care coverage has affected the productivity of employees subject to this greater out-of-pocket spending…
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Research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine examines the effects of allowing patients to read the notes written by physicians about their health and care. Patients generally seem to…
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An article and accompanying editorial in the Annals of Internal Medicine discuss the effect of non-payment for hospital-acquired catheter-linked urinary tract infections, finding that the underlying data is likely so…
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Another luminescent Potpourri, focusing on the ACA's high-risk pool plan; controlling health spending in Massachusetts; what components of EHRs and HIEs may control costs; another survey of employers and dealing…
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An Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality report looks at the evidence for the effectiveness of public reporting of providers' performance on various quality measures in actually creating quality improvements…
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The Employee Benefit Research Institute releases a report looking at private health insurance exchanges and defined contribution plans, putting them in historical perspective and suggesting that adoption of these initiatives…
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An interesting paper from the National Bureau of Economics focuses on moral hazard in health insurance and more specifically the extent to which consumers anticipation of future spending affects utilization,…
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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.