Medication Therapy Management is mandated for certain Medicare beneficiaries, but many more patients may benefit from its focus on prescription drugs as a care management tool
Another ADP survey looks at employers attitudes and actions in regard to wellness programs and activities, which continue to grow despite mixed evidence for efficacy.
A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that use of telemonitoring with pharmacist consultation can help in blood pressure control.
The initial ADP report on health benefit trends among employers covers a four year period and shows general stability in coverage with a moderating rise in costs driven by more cost-shifting to employees.
Rock Health releases a report on funding of “digital health” in the first half of 2013, finding a modest increase.
In a clearly political move the Administration has apparently decided to delay the reform law’s employer mandate until 2015. Which parts of the law will be delayed next?
The Congressional Budget Office released a presentation which examines how competition among plans appears to affect pricing for Medicare’ Part D drug benefit.
The American Association of Preferred Provider Organizations released its analysis of enrollment in consumer-directed health plans, shouwing continued gains.
The American Medical Association does an annual survey on payer performance on administrative issues affecting providers. This year’s survey shows continuing improvement and some interesting tidbits.
The IMS Institute for Health Informatics publishes a report suggesting that using prescription medicines more appropriately would save $200 billion annually in health spending in the United States. Really?
An Employee Benefits Research Institute study delves further into the effects of high deductible plans on access to and use of services.
The health insurance exchanges are a critical component of the expanded coverage that will supposedly ensue from the reform law. A Government Accountability Office report calls into question the readiness of those exchanges.
One of the thorniest problems in health care management is that while it is relatively easy to identify patients who have high cost now, predicting or understanding utilization over a longer period of time is more difficult. A new paper in the American Journal of Public Health sheds some light on that issue.
Jackson Healthcare does very interesting surveys of physician trends and attitudes. The most recent reveals growing discontent, which may affect how well reform rolls out.
The PriceWaterhouseCooper Health Research Institute released its projections for medical trend for 2014, finding it will dip to 6.5%, which is still well ahead of economic growth or general inflation.