A survey of high-deductible health plan users finds that care is more likely to be deferred by enrollees in such plans as opposed to traditional ones, particularly low-income persons, but not for patients with chronic conditions. The survey has weaknesses, including the fact that it does not explore outcomes.
Placebo and nocebo effects are just part of the broader topic of how patient perceptions about their health, illnesses and treatments may affect outcomes. An article in Current Directions in Psychological Science summarizes research on patient perception of illness.
Patient satisfaction surveys and scores are a large component in most pay-for-reporting, pay-for-performance and value-based purchasing programs, on the theory that patient satisfaction is linked to quality. A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine undercuts this theory.
President Obama, his administration and Congressional Democrats sold the health “reform” law in large part by claiming it would reduce health insurance premiums for average Americans, by $2000 they said, and they persuaded “experts” to write papers supporting those claims. Now one of those experts has admitted his previous paid-for analysis was wrong.
Geographic variation in health care spending is an ongoing controversial topic primarily because the most significant implication is that many physicians have practice patterns that unnecessarily raise costs and changing those patterns could save significant dollars. A New England Journal of Medicine article discusses variation in Medicare drug spending.
This week’s Potpourri focuses on the cost of robotic surgery, the benefits of aspirin compared to more expensive drugs, the benefits of fitness club use, what states and specialties are responsible for the SGR overrun, and the performance of safety-net hospitals on ER quality measures.
CMS has issued its latest proposal rule on Medicaid drug pricing and rebates. The proposal doesn’t clear up all areas of uncertainty and will add administrative costs for manufacturers. It will also likely influence the continued shift in how payers reimburse pharmacies.
The Massachusetts reform rolls on, with the state’s residents generally still okay with the changes, although cost continues to be a problem. An article in Health Affairs sums up the current state of affairs.
The Government Accountability Office issues a report on use of implantable medical devices in hospitals, finding that they pay widely varying prices, suggesting that it is often too much, some of which ends getting paid by taxpayers.
SureScripts, the network which facilitates e-prescribing, released results from a study which showed benefits from use of e-prescribing in terms of better fill rates on prescriptions and better ongoing adherence.
Another Potpourri brimming with doses of useful information that you eagerly await each week, including Medicare special needs plans and patients with diabetes, health information technology venture capital funding and M & A, identifying overuse in health care, what makes a better medical group, does merging weak hospitals help them and interventions that appear to work to prevent development of diabetes.
Another excellent paper from the Congressional Budget Office is issued, this one on Medicare’s demonstration projects on value-based payments to providers. Once again, the demonstrations had very mixed results, with only one demonstration generating savings for the Medicare program.
One creation of the federal reform law was the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute. The Institute has released a draft of its proposed priorities for research, available for comment by the public. It is sure to stir much discussion among affected audiences.
A study on colorectal screening for women compared the effect of a web-based intervention and a print intervention. The most interesting finding, however, relates to how often people signed on to the website versus how often they said they did.
The Wall Street Journal published a special section devoted to big health care issues, with a pro and con format on questions ranging from should there be a health insurance mandate to the potential for accountable care organizations to increase quality and lower costs.
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 [email protected].
© 2024 Healthy Skeptic.
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