A new study of the association between process of care measures and health outcomes for certain hospital episodes has encouraging results for pay for reporting and pay for performance programs.
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We have certainly labored over the Labor Day weekend version of the Potpourri, featuring relative performance of US and foreign medical school graduates, California health insurance hikes, non-for-profit hospital CEO pay, performance measures and outcome variation at hospitals related to cost, new reimbursement methods and physician cost profiling.
A Commonwealth Foundation Brief describes a “virtual ward” model developed in Great Britain to minimize hospitalizations for chronic disease patients. Early results are encouraging and similar models are being tried in the United States.
Medicaid programs, and other third-party payers, can save a lot of money by requiring use of generics when available. Some state laws, however, can significantly inhibit generic use, according to new research in Health Affairs.
Deloitte puts out an Issue Brief touting the mobile personal health record as a key to reducing costs, primarily by better chronic condition management. There are a lot of barriers from vision to reality.
The new health law attempts to dictate how much of insurance premiums insurers must spend on medical care, so of course there is now extensive haggling on defining the calculation. The NAIC has released its version, which now goes to HHS for review.
A study of a medical home model indicates reductions in hospital admissions and readmissions and possibly a reduction in total spending. It is not clear, however, what the full economic impact was nor is it clear that most practices would see the results that this particular provider system did.
Summer nears an end, but not our Potpourris. This one includes the costs of malpractice, an innovative provider error disclosure program, employer wellness paybacks, blood pressure medication issues, the cost of new technologies, provider pricing power and the mental health of Californians.
Everyone is anxious to see the early effects of the reform law on health care costs. Another survey of large employer groups regarding their 2010 and 2011 expectations indicates that those costs are continuing to go up, probably at a faster pace.
It is well-established that physicians respond to various economic incentives by changing their treatment behavior. A recent study explores this phenomenon in the context of Medicare’s cancer chemotherapy drug reimbursement policies.
About this Blog
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].
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