Nursing home residents have some of the highest health care costs and often have frequent hospitalizations. An Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality brief looks at characteristics of these hospitalizations.
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Yet another piece of research, this one in the Journal of the American Medical Association, finds finds at best a very weak relationship between readmission rates and mortality.
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Medical spending growth has been relatively quiescent for the last few years. Especially as full implementation of the reform law nears, there is great anxiety about whether that slow growth…
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Telemedicine or telehealth has the potential to bring quality health care resources to patients in an efficient manner, but like many health care innovations, has gotten off to a slower…
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The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System issued a report called "Confronting Costs, Stabilizing U.S. Health Spending While Moving Toward a High Performance Health Care System", which…
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Many large employers may consider shifting more employees to part-time status as a result of the implementation of the reform law, according to a survey by ADP, and they may…
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Most people want to die at home, but few do. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association examines changes in place of death and use of…
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Like many large industries, health care has a lot of transactional activity--mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, buy-outs, etc. These are usually predicated on the creation of significant benefits for the surviving entity.…
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A study in the American Journal of Managed Care looks at the effect on hospital utilization for patients who were care for in one of the country's leading concierge practices.
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A study from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary looks at characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries who disenroll from Medicare Advantage and their spending patterns following…
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The Journal of the American Medical Association published an issue largely devoted to studies of hospital readmissions, looking both at patterns and potential causes and programs that might help reduce…
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A new report from America's Health Insurance Plans exposes the unbelievable ripoff charges that many providers place on out-of-network services. Much of these charges is paid by the insured person.…
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A draft working paper from the Federal Reserve Staff is the latest salvo in the ongoing exploration of any link between more health spending and better quality or vice versa.…
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Actuarial consultants Alvarez & Marsal issue a brief summarizing increasing issues with cost increases caused by hospital acquisition of physician practices and other outpatient services.
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One primary purpose of quality reporting is to help consumers make informed decisions about where they get their care from or where they purchase insurance. Research in JAMA indicates there…
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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.