A new report from McKinsey finds that the federal reform law will have more of an effect on the market for employer-based health insurance than other studies suggested would occur.…
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Another scintillating menu of health care tidbits, including provider reaction to the proposed Accountable Care Organization rule; end-of-life care in the US and Canada; hospital volume and outcomes for difficult…
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CMS has proposed a rule to implement a PPACA provision allowing access to extracts of provider-level Medicare data to evaluate performance, primarily on quality measures. This is a good first…
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A new report on prices paid by commercial insurers in Massachusetts shows great variation, which appears unrelated to providers' costs or to the quality of care delivered. While the specific…
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An Institute of Medicine report finds Medicare's geographic reimbursement adjustment formulas to be seriously flawed and suggests general principles to guide a reworking. The conclusions and follow-up reports are sure…
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Responding to a challenge for each medical specialty to find methods for reducing inappropriate care and spending in that specialty, two oncologists identify a number of steps that could easily…
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Another round of health tidbits, including the association between primary care workforce and Medicare outcomes, comparisons of Type 2 diabetes drugs, effects of limiting DTC drug advertising, health information exchange…
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The Pew Research Center's latest survey regarding people's use of the internet and social media for health purposes reveals continued growth. A large number of Americans view the internet as…
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The latest paper on geographic variation in Medicare spending uses a different design and statistical tool to demonstrate that higher spending on health care is associated with better health in…
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Great Britain's electronic health records project is severely off schedule and off budget. The problems of that project, however, are not necessarily likely to be replicated in America's push to…
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Our Memorial Day Potpourri, celebrating health information such as the growth of high-deductible plans, physician starting salaries, benefit design for high-cost conditions, why emergency room physicians order tests, the use…
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As noted in yesterday's post, the Trustees of the Medicare Hospital and Supplementary Funds recognized the inadequacy of the official projections of Medicare's financial condition, and therefore had an alternative,…
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The Medicare Trustees have released the 2011 report on the status of the Medicare funds, indicating that they will be exhausted sooner than anticipated, due both to the recession and…
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An index that tracks medical spending shows that while per capita spending continues to rise, the rate of growth has slowed, particularly for Medicare. Hospital spending continues to be the…
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An article in JAMA discusses research on the use of remote monitoring teams in intensive care units, finding significant benefits in consistency and quality of care and likely lower costs.
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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.