The segment of the population which is elderly and poor, thus often eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid coverage, is often not in good health and has very high expenses.…
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All the focus on quality and the effect of spending on quality of care has led to some creative research approaches to understanding what that relationship may be. A new…
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A Medicare Payment Advisory Commission report summarizes the federal incentive program for adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records and reports on progress, which appears to be very slow.
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Our latest Potpourri features the comparative cost of cancer care in the US and elsewhere, the effect of genomics on spending, international practice guidelines, state Medicaid waivers, unintended consequences from…
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The IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics has released a wonderful report on use of prescription drugs in the United States in 2011. A great deal of detailed information on therapeutic…
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In an era of multiple programs measuring outcomes and costs by provider and by disease or condition, the importance of consistent coding in the data used to do the measurement…
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One of the surprises of the expansion of health coverage in Massachusetts is that it seems to have increased emergency room use. A new study shows that this phenomenon might…
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In general, lower drug costs have helped decrease health spending growth, but specialty drug prices and use, often for cancer, have increased rapidly. New reports show these cost increases are…
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An early spring for much of the country and our latest Potpourri is in full bloom, with nuggets on health information exchanges, genetic testing guidelines, an employer survey on reform,…
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Physicians are as aware as anyone of the need to control health spending. Several physician specialty associations have released lists of procedures or treatments that consumers and doctors should question…
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A new study from the National Bureau of Economics finds that greater levels of education are associated with better health behaviors, without regard to specific knowledge of health risks or…
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One of the theories behind geographic variation in health spending analysis is that there are areas where high rates of inappropriate care delivery exist, leading to higher spending. A new…
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Makes sense that paying for better delivery of quality care would improve outcomes, but the research so far doesn't support that notion. The latest evidence is a study in the…
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Welcome to another Potpourri of health information, focusing on workers' comp medical prices, cost-sharing on asthma meds, the Medicare Advantage program, doctors' experience of quality improvement programs, a review of…
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Every year the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission puts out a report on its views on the current state of Medicare, its major issues and recommendations to Congress and the Centers…
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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.
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