A study from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary looks at characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries who disenroll from Medicare Advantage and their spending patterns following…
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The Journal of the American Medical Association published an issue largely devoted to studies of hospital readmissions, looking both at patterns and potential causes and programs that might help reduce…
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A new report from America's Health Insurance Plans exposes the unbelievable ripoff charges that many providers place on out-of-network services. Much of these charges is paid by the insured person.…
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A draft working paper from the Federal Reserve Staff is the latest salvo in the ongoing exploration of any link between more health spending and better quality or vice versa.…
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Actuarial consultants Alvarez & Marsal issue a brief summarizing increasing issues with cost increases caused by hospital acquisition of physician practices and other outpatient services.
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One primary purpose of quality reporting is to help consumers make informed decisions about where they get their care from or where they purchase insurance. Research in JAMA indicates there…
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The latest Pew Research survey relating to health care asks about how people track health matters and finds that relatively few use technology, even though easily available, for this purpose.
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What is mHealth? And what impact will it have on health care? A new Deloitte Center for Health Solutions report attempts to provide answers and suggests that mHealth is transforming…
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The relationship between cost and quality is tricky in health care, as it is with many services and products. A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine conducts…
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Do wellness programs improve quality and cost outcomes? Despite their popularity, from a research perspective the answer remains unclear, but a new review published in the Journal of Occupational and…
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At its annual meeting in January, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission explores issues regarding payment for various providers, beneficiary access to care and quality. This January's presentation on physician issues…
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An article by Rand Corp researchers published in Health Affairs indicates that electronic health records and other aspects of health information technology are not fulfilling their promise, whatever that was.…
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Today is the second part of our review of this year's Sanofi Managed Care Digest, with information of drug coverage and other aspects of health benefits.
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Sanofi sponsors the Managed Care Digest Series and just released the 2012-13 edition, which contains a plethora of data on HMOs, PPOs and their use and management of prescription drugs.
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Allow drug spending growth has slowed, it is still a significant category of cost and adding drug benefits to Medicare and Medicaid has caused concern about how those drugs are…
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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.