The reform debate and its aftermath focused a lot of attention on health plans’ administrative expenses, particularly whether they were devoting too much of total premium to profits. A new report looks at expense trends for Medicaid managed care plans.
The Institute of Medicine’s report on The Future of Nursing discusses many issues, but one that catches the eye relates to the role of restrictions on nurse scope of practice in impeding better access and lower costs.
More health care tidbits in this week’s potpourri, including medication adherence; the benefits of workplace wellness programs; the costs to employers of obesity; hospital prices in Oregon; reimbursement methods for drugs and potential savings from health IT.
A recent survey and study examine physicians’ use of email to interact with their patients, finding very low rates of use, due to reimbursement and other concerns, as well as limited technical access. Expanded use could help reduce costs.
A medical device manufacturers’ trade association publishes sponsored research on the effect of GPOs on costs, concluding that hospitals would be better off to buy directly from the manufacturers or to restructure how GPOs are paid.
Health spending is high in the United States compared to other industrial countries. Quality, based on health outcomes such as survival or mortality, appears to be worse. A new article probes the reasons why, but may have some flaws.
Because of political considerations, medical malpractice and its health spending effects is a controversial topic. A recent issue of Health Affairs carried several articles on this topic.
There appears to be significant variation in per capita health spending around the United States. The low-cost areas could provide valuable lessons to the rest of the country and a NEJM perspective examines the experience of Grand Junction.
The regular weekend lineup of health care news, including doctors trying to limit nurse anesthetists’ practices; text messaging for teenager dermatitis patients; Hewitt’s cost projections for 2011; physicians and the internet; how to calculate MLRs and use of incentive pay for physicians.
Spurred by government funds and regulations, the medical world is rushing to implement electronic records and other functionality. The consequences may not always be great, as a recent study suggests.
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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