Some well-known former political and regulatory figures are proposing another shopworn approach to dealing with health spending and quality issues.
The Kaiser Family Foundation issues a brief report on the status of the Medicare hospital readmissions penalty program as it heads into its second year, with CMS levying significant penalties against many hospitals, notwithstanding substantial methodological issues.
A report sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson foundation examines the current state of electronic medical record use in the United States.
An analysis performed for CMS looks at the effect of narrower pharmacy networks with preferred providers for Part D plans, finding that generally these networks had lower spending.
Whatever government reimbursement mechanism is used, the affected providers are likely to change behavior to maximize their economics, as reflected in an Office of Inspector General report on observational hospital stays.
The Journal of the American Medical Association carries a survey on how doctors in the United States view their role in controlling spending and gives their perspective on various approaches to limiting costs.
A study published in Health Affairs confirms earlier research suggesting that Medicare Advantage plans do a better job of delivering quality health care than does fee-for-service Medicare.
Hopefully, the recent Institute of Medicine final report on geographic variation in health spending will be near the last volley in this long-running, getting tiresome discussion of the existence, causes and solutions to this issue. The IOM finds that variation exists, but on a level too granular for a regional solution.
The Government Accounting Office issues a very disturbing report showing how billions of dollars are being wasted by the federal government on information technology projects. Several health projects feature prominently.
A new brief from Truven Health Analytics examines the leading drivers of spending in employer sponsored health plans.