IntraHealth International, which helps countries build health care workforces, has acquired Switchboard, a creator of mobile communications for health purposes in low-income countries.
According to a Harris poll, about 1 of every 5 insured Americans has not gone to see a physician because of cost concerns. Many feel they do not have adequate sources of cost information.
Performant Financial Corp. is buying Premier Healthcare Exchange for $130 million, adding prepayment revenue cycle capabilities to Performant's post-payment services.
Mednax, the practice management company which started in pediatrics, is buying a Michigan anesthesiology practice to bolster its growing presence in that specialty.
Outstanding journalist Megan McArdle gives a great explanation of why our current system of health care quality measurement and improvement is pretty much worthless.
Contrary to what would be expected a new piece of research finds that having more insurers compete one of the reform exchanges results in higher, not lower, premiums, but the likely explanation is that there are more insurers offering plans in urban areas which also have higher medical costs.
http://f1000research.com/articles/4-25/v1
Jan282015
Health insurance exchanges that basically allow any insurer meeting certain standards to sell end up with lower prices than those that try to actively negotiate with plans, according to research in Health Affairs, proving once again the ineptitude of bureaucrats who think they know best.
A study in Health Affairs finds that mandating dependent coverage for children up to age 26 increased the insured status of younger trauma patients but did not lessen their mortality rate.
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.