The Wall Street Journal published a special section devoted to big health care issues, with a pro and con format on questions ranging from should there be a health insurance mandate to the potential for accountable care organizations to increase quality and lower costs.
Another zinger of a Potpourri, with nuggets on a GAO audit of NQF work, use of web tools for diabetes management, the Healthways well-being index, the problem with federal health spending, hospital job losses from reimbursement cuts, and reducing unnecessary testing.
Venture capital is critical to the formation and growth of small businesses and this is as true or more true for health care than it is for other industries. The annual MoneyTree Report from PriceWaterhouseCooper and the National Venture Capital Association reveals details for 2011.
The American Hospital Association releases its Principles and Guidelines for Changes in Hospital Ownership, which recognize and attempt to ameliorate the public concerns about the effects of hospital consolidation or for-profit conversions of hospitals.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has engaged in a number of care management demonstrations over the years. The Congressional Budget Office adds its assessment to the body of research examining the outcomes of those demostrations.
A noted health economist discusses the recent release of national health spending and spending growth for 2010, finding that while expenditures appear to have slowed, we are a long way from being able to reach that conclusion.
Winter is getting long and tedious by now, but our Potpourri offers a welcome respite, with refreshing tidbits on hospital uncompensated care, teledermatology, Medicaid controls of antipsychotic use, Medicare cuts to osteoporosis testing payments, the relationship between primary care access and mortality risk, and where the United States will find cost-savings.
Researchers have published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association which examines hospital readmission rates for heart attack patients in multiple countries. The United States has higher absolute rates of readmissions, but the lowest lengths of stay and the two circumstances appear to be linked.
An astoundingly small number of patients account for a very high percentage of overall national health expenditures and an equally astounding large number of patients account for a very small amount of that spending. A new brief from AHRQ gives details.
When money starts getting attached to calculations, the nitty-gritty of how the data for the calculations is collected and how the calculation is defined become very important. An article in the Annals of Internal Medicine examines methods for determining hospital mortality rates, finding differences across methods that could have important financial consequences.
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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