Patient-centered medical homes, accountable care organizations, who can keep all the delivery innovations straight! Research summarized in an Annals of Internal Medicine article reviews the state of the evidence on the use of medical homes. So far, not great, small gains in quality and no showing of overall cost savings.
A Kaiser Family Foundation snapshot examines cost-sharing between employers and employees based on data from the KFF 2012 health benefit survey. In general public employees are getting a much better health benefit deal than are employees at private firms.
2012 has been another tumultuous year for all of us involved with health care in the United States. The holidays may offer a welcome respite, an opportunity to enjoy friends and family. We hope that for each of you this is truly a very relaxing and joyous time. Merry Christmas, and happy holidays for those of other or no religious preference.
The latest brief from the National Institute for Health Care Management describes facts about private health insurance, with a focus on what goes into the premiums charged by these companies. Another study that shows that rising health insurance premiums are driven by higher payments to providers, largely resulting from higher unit costs.
Our penultimate Potpourri for 2012 is a festive blend of health data, including avoidance of health care due to costs, rates of expected spending increases in 2013, costs for younger versus older physicians, internet versus print health interventions, medical home results and poor health behaviors and health spending.
The other exchange in health care–health information exchanges–are designed to ensure that all the data whizzing around in all the fancy new electronic medical record systems and other provider and payer systems can be easily shared across the system for clinical and administrative purposes. A new report looks at the status of these exchanges.
We would all like to think that receiving health care services isn’t going to make us sicker, but occasionally untoward things happen. A new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality looks at efforts to prevent one such harm, health care associated infections.
The reform law begins to really kick in for 2013, with many new taxes and regulations. Unpleasant surprises abound and an Oliver Wyman report for America’s Health Insurance Plans examines the likely effect of the new health care coverage tax.
A new 2012 physicians compensation survey reveals interesting data about how much doctors work, what they are paid, what kinds of practices they are in and how they feel about their work. Many doctors feel overworked and undercompensated.
In this holiday season, it is a time for giving presents and our latest Potpourri presents you with many gifts of health information, including some positive news about an ACO program, some cautions for the success of ACOs, an apparently successful disease management program, lung cancer screening, earnings growth for physicians and other health professionals and lessons in bundled payments.
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 [email protected].
© 2024 Healthy Skeptic.
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