Happy Easter and welcome to our spring kickoff potpourri, complete with a survey on technology use by consumers; brand drug pricing; how to get individuals to purchase health coverage; views…
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Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Programs provide coverage for a very substantial portion of the nation's children. The GAO issues a report on the adequacy of some aspects of…
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Health Affairs publishes a study suggesting that the systems which have been used to identify patient safety issues in hospitals miss most problems. A new tool does a better job…
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Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine examines the relationship between nursing home quality metrics and the number of malpractice claims they have, finding a weak relationship at…
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An article in JAMA discusses the use of gaming technology to aid in health goals, reviewing the research and discussing potential benefits and risks.
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Our Masters week Potpourri masterfully covers such items as EHR satisfaction, ICU telemedicine, effects of concierge care on Medicare, failure to fill prescriptions, percent of household spending on health care…
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A NEJM article notes the increasing employment of doctors by hospitals, even though the hospitals usually lose money on the practice in the short-term. The effects of this trend on…
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A Perspective in the NEJM calls into question whether most accountable care organizations would be able to achieve a return on investment under the planned CMS demonstration beginning in 2012.
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While health care is agog with the possibility of new care and payment methods like medical homes or ACOs and global or episode-based reimbursement, according to a Health Affairs article,…
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The overall workers' compensation market has been soft during the recession and even before that. A new report from NCCI projects continued softness, although health care as a component of…
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Every few years April 1st falls on a Friday, allowing us to put out our Potpourri on that day. As you might anticipate, one of our items this week is…
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The FDA issues a draft guidance on the use of clinical pharmacogenomics, in particular the gathering of relevant pharmacogenomic data in early drug development studies.
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The General Accounting Office looks into the controversial topic of Medicare Advantage plan reimbursement compared to Medicare FFS spending and finds that there is probably room to pressure rates downward.
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A review article of high quality studies on the VHA's telemedicine initiatives suggests that those interventions had positive health outcomes and may also lower overall health care utilization and cost.
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The Institute of Medicine puts out two reports related to guidelines and the evidence supporting them which, if followed, should help ensure credible advances in scientific guidance for medical care.
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