Massachusetts has been the poster child for health care reform for several years and a recent report by the state reveals continued shortfalls of the outcomes to what was promised, in particular in regard to costs.
The discussion about regional variation in health spending seems like it may never end. A National Bureau of Economic Research paper explores the role of physician and patient attitudes.
Another survey of doctors reveals their generally gloomy view of health care and medical practice.
The latest in research into the impact of the rapidly growing high-deductible health plans finds that spending appears to be reduced and the reductions sustained for several years in most categories of health care utilization.
The Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute issues a report summarizing findings regarding incentives to change physician and patient behavior.
National health plan UnitedHealth Group has had success using incentives to create patient engagement with its own employee population, according to an article in Health Affairs.
A new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research looks at trends in aging and burden of illness, finding some evidence for greater health during most of life, with a compression of illness near the end of life.
For the dog days of August we have an appropriate topic, actuarial work on health insurance reserving. The American Academy of Actuaries releases what is actually a very useful guide on a very important subject.
Research reported in Health Affairs looks at possible links between the level of physician apprehension about being sued for malpractice and the ordering of diagnostic tests.
Mark Farrah Associates provides an analysis of the enrollment and profitability trends for large health plans for the first quarter of 2013.
Some well-known former political and regulatory figures are proposing another shopworn approach to dealing with health spending and quality issues.
The Kaiser Family Foundation issues a brief report on the status of the Medicare hospital readmissions penalty program as it heads into its second year, with CMS levying significant penalties against many hospitals, notwithstanding substantial methodological issues.
A report sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson foundation examines the current state of electronic medical record use in the United States.
An analysis performed for CMS looks at the effect of narrower pharmacy networks with preferred providers for Part D plans, finding that generally these networks had lower spending.
Whatever government reimbursement mechanism is used, the affected providers are likely to change behavior to maximize their economics, as reflected in an Office of Inspector General report on observational hospital stays.