The Massachusetts Attorney General investigates and discovers that hospitals and some physicians have market power and consequently are able to demand high payments and those payments are the main cause…
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Four times a year public companies regale us with their (usually optimistic) views of the firm's past performance, future prospects and market environment. Interesting information can occasionally be found by…
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Rhode Island released a report on payments to hospitals from various sources and looked at factors accounting for significant differences in payment levels. The variation is likely entirely due to…
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The recommended schedule for mammography screenings to detect breast cancer is examined in a Cochrane report, which finds that the current recommendation probably leads to overdiagnosis and treatment and the…
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While employees over 65 are a very small part of the work force, their numbers are growing and the recession likely will keep people working longer. These employees have some…
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Pharmaceutical manufacturers have spent massive amounts of money on sending sales reps to visit individual physicians and on direct-to-consumer advertising, to the point that this spending is often larger than…
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Quality measurement and pay-for-performance programs continue to spread, in the belief that they will improve health care quality. A new study looks at the costs these programs impose on physician…
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Healthy health care snacks--concierge medicine, personalized medicine, health care hiring, electronic medical records, Medicaid, disease management--all for your reading pleasure on the weekend.
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PriceWaterhouseCoopers releases a survey on large and small employers' perspective on their health insurers. The results show increasing dissatisfaction along several dimensions, with minor improvement on only one or two.…
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An early use of telemedicine was bringing medical expertise to underserved areas. A new venture indicates that there continue to be significant opportunities for this aspect of the field, allowing…
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Health Affairs publishes a study examining a number of workplace wellness efforts. The meta-analysis finds that most programs offer substantial returns on investment, through both health cost and absenteeism reductions.…
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The Joint Commissions issued a report showing improvement in American hospitals' quality scores. A large percent of all hospitals submitted information on several care areas, most demonstrating greater compliance with…
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End-of-life care achieved some notoriety in the health reform debate, but it deserves thoughtful attention since it accounts for a great deal of cost and research indicates that patients' wishes…
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Another collection of health care tidbits, a little telemedicine, a little reform, a little on medical care, a little personalized medicine and a smidgen of physician happiness.
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Health care costs account for over half of workers' compensation spending. More attention is being given to drivers of this spending and a new study identifies a small group 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.