The National Academy of Social Insurance tracks workers' compensation trends, among other items, and has issued a report which confirms that medical costs are rising faster than indemnity costs.
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Consumers increasingly look for medical information and advice on the internet. Research, including a recent study relating to childhood health issues, suggests that many times the data given can be…
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Obesity has been fingered as one of the villains of health care cost increases. A CBO analysis verifies that obese persons appear to have significantly higher annual health care costs…
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On the menu for this week's potpourri--savings from wellness efforts for a large employer; drug reimbursement for Medicaid programs; using remote monitoring in a health plan context; the FDA's regulatory…
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Health Affairs publishes several studies addressing inappropriate use of the emergency room, finding that many visits could be dealt with in other settings, but that higher copays may not deter…
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The meaningful use provisions of the stimulus bill provide incentive payments to providers who implement EMRs, and ultimately penalties for those who don't or who don't use those systems in…
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Not much is hotter in health care than wireless/mobile functionality and how it may affect many aspects of care delivery and health management. A PWC report looks at trends, opportunities…
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The Kaiser Foundation released results of its annual survey of health insurance costs among companies providing health benefits to workers. The most prominent finding is the continued shift of cost…
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The Office of Actuary publishes its current estimate of national health spending in the wake of health reform. It finds that the law will slightly increase spending, but there is…
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Fall is a lovely time of year and what could be better than relaxing with a Potpourri, featuring health insurance increases, the true costs of EHRs, hospital pay-for-performance programs and…
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Deloitte's annual survey of consumers in six countries on health care issues provides some interesting insights on the citizens' health behaviors, concerns and perceptions of their health system.
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Fears have been expressed that increasing CDHP enrollment puts people at risk for skipping necessary health services. The GAO looked at this population and found healthier people enrolled and they…
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Research shows that allowing nurse anesthetists to do their jobs without physician supervision does not pose additional risk to patients. Regulations and laws which limit this ability should therefore be…
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A new study of the association between process of care measures and health outcomes for certain hospital episodes has encouraging results for pay for reporting and pay for performance programs.
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We have certainly labored over the Labor Day weekend version of the Potpourri, featuring relative performance of US and foreign medical school graduates, California health insurance hikes, non-for-profit hospital CEO…
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