Every year Medicare puts out very lengthy and detailed proposed, and ultimately final, rules updating the reimbursement for all of the classes of providers--physicians, hospitals, etc. While reading these is…
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The New Yorker carries an exceptional article by Atul Gawande on end-of-life care, highlighting irrational reimbursement policies and the difficult decisions that both patients and providers must make.
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Although its reform effort appears to have gone amok, largely for cost reasons, the state of Massachusetts is producing a lot of useful data and research on medical service delivery,…
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A study of diagnostic practices for Medicare beneficiaries reveals geographic variations. These variations not only may suggest either under or overuse of diagnostic tests but they can bias other research…
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A lot of great items in this week's potpourri, covering the acquisition of HealthGrades, what encourages men to get screenings, potential cheating on pay-for-performance schemes, the problems of a multi-payer…
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There has been no more gnarly health care problem for Congress than how to deal with physician reimbursement. At some point, as a Health Affairs article points out, it will…
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Trashing insurance companies is popular and one of the most frequent complaints is about their premium increases and profits. A NEJM perspective uses misleading information to continue dumping on health…
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A study in JAMA suggests that process-of-care quality measures, which are frequently used for bonus or penalty reimbursement programs, may have little real relationship to ultimate health outcomes.
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Workers' compensation health cost trends may provide some insight into underlying medical cost issues across the system and vice versa. An NCCI report looks at factors driving trends in medical…
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The notion of a health insurance exchange to assist individuals and small groups in finding affordable health insurance is a critical part of the coverage expansion in the recent health…
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More midsummer musings, covering possible replacements for AWP, the effect of Part D on heart failure drug use, the VA's telehealth programs, venture capital activity, self-management of high blood pressure,…
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More commentary on MedPAC's Annual Report, focusing on the care of dual-eligible beneficiaries and the use of shared decision-making in the Medicare population.
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MedPAC's annual report always contains many useful analyses of health care issues, complete with research citations. This year's report covers several topics of general interest, including effective benefit designs and…
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For several decades drug companies have taken a beating over their pricing and many governments have limited how those companies charge for their products. A new study suggests that such…
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A key premise of the consumer-directed health movement and a number of other health reform concepts is that patients can understand health information and choices and make good decisions. An…
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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.