Clockwise MD decided its time to raise some funds, without a second to lose, getting a minute $1 million to support its software to help patients and providers identify wait times.
http://medcitynews.com/2015/09/clockwisemd-raises-1m/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=37502e64e0-MCN+Daily+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5092836c41-37502e64e0-408793005A study in Health Affairs suggests that the neighborhood you grow up in likely has little association with your risk for developing certain chronic diseases, suggesting that early interventions are not likely to be efficacious in reducing prevalence of these diseases.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/34/9/1472.abstract?=rightLarge dental supply firm Dentsply is acquiring competitor Sirona Dental for $5.5 billion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/16/business/dealbook/dentsply-to-acquire-sirona-dental-for-5-5-billion.html?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+Daily+Health+Policy+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=22074792&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_p_iA9MCAcjWe0XRXQDBO2uV9e20H0Rq0i3N9KsroqS4N1laawnWwqfC8oOgumtqlG91dwsNWJU00W6tMjnaFTI_fzPH-nRB0sHqlG5dDpDNQJxq0&_hsmi=22074792&_r=0Proving that making lots of money doesn't make a company smarter, Google is apparently investing $32.5 million in struggling "new style" insurer Oscar, at a $1.75 billion. So far Oscar has mostly shown it needs a good actuary.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-backs-startup-oscar-health-insurance-1442374756?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+Daily+Health+Policy+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=22074792&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8cZicOlwwg6VnAY8BWJDTC6HEnJvoFIt1anPy0KOLFgcLspdcIO6GE6qyxEM7d5Z802aQ4KfV7fRrAr3tRdQ4ubVrtgd0dOHOuRzwwxxT0Bn4UjNE&_hsmi=22074792Persivia, which aims to be a precision medicine and health analytics firm, is buying IHM Services Company, which provides clinical intelligence to hospitals.
http://medcitynews.com/2015/09/persivia-health-it-big-data/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=80d7526ff1-MCN+Daily+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5092836c41-80d7526ff1-408793005New research in JAMA Internal Medicine finds that half the difference in readmission rates among hospitals can be explained by characteristics of the patients they treat, further demonstrating the poor design of the CMS penalty program.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/09/14/medicare-unfairly-penalizes-hospitals-treating-sickest-poorest-patients-study-finds/Wellness firm Training Amigo is seeking friends to invest $1.5 million in the company.
Billionaire entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong has raised huge sums for two more of his panoply of companies, $150 million for a proteomics lab business and $100 million for an immuno-oncology one. Be interesting to see how all this relates to his population health management efforts.
http://medcitynews.com/2015/09/two-of-patrick-soon-shiongs-nantworks-startups-net-250m/?utm_source=MedCity+News+Subscribers&utm_campaign=446e1408df-MCN+Daily+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5092836c41-446e1408df-408793005According to a Markets & Markets report the population health management market will be worth over $40 billion in annual revenue by 2018. I have no idea what anyone means by that term and 99% of the people who use it don't know what they mean by it either, but $40 billion is certainly a lot more than the amount of cost savings produced by PHM.
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/population-health-management-market-263411936.htmlAbout 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.