According to research in JAMA Internal Medicine hospitals that participate in various quality reporting and improvement programs have lower readmission rates.
Large Massachusetts health care provider and plan Partners Healthcare is acquiring Rhode Island hospital operator Care New England. Whoopee, more provider consolidation.
Cardinal Health is acquiring much of Medtronic's medical supply business for around $6.1 billion, relieving Medtronic of a poorly-fitting business that came with its Covidien acquisition.
Ability Network, which offers technology for health care administrative tasks, demonstrates an ability to sniff out a good deal, hounding ShiftHound til the health care technology workforce manager agrees to be bought.
My BS meter went way up on this one. India-based company Practo Technologies, which offers a health care technology platform and has raised a lot of money to support it, is laying off 150 employees in what it referred to as part of the annual appraisal process. Uhhh, we appraise that our company isn't doing very well, so we don't need you any more.
A Mercer survey finds that over half of all large employers offer a high-deductible plan, but only 1/4 of workers enroll in them. Only 6% of large employers make it the only choice, even though the plans lower cost.
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.