For several decades drug companies have taken a beating over their pricing and many governments have limited how those companies charge for their products. A new study suggests that such regulation does limit development of new medicines.
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A key premise of the consumer-directed health movement and a number of other health reform concepts is that patients can understand health information and choices and make good decisions. An AHRQ report gives reason to question that notion.
HHS has issued its draft regulation on what preventive services health plans must cover without cost-sharing by the patient. Someone, of course, has to pay for all these “free” services, and it usually is the consumer.
Another week, another potpourri, this time with items on workers’ compensation drug spending, benefit consulting firm mergers, hospital readmissions, geographic variation in spending and use of mobile vans to deliver health care.
A study reported in JAMA examines the use of telemedicine techniques to improve the management of pain and depression in cancer patients.
The state of human knowledge is often imperfect and medical treatment provides frequent examples of that. What we think we know often turns out to be erroneous as two recent studies published in JAMA demonstrate.
There are so many sources of the rapid increases in national health spending that it is hard to track them all. A recent article estimates the costs of “medicalization”, the process of turning problems into medical issues which end up incurring health costs.
Struggling with the continuing rise in health insurance premiums, Rhode Island’s Insurance Commissioner takes some creative steps to attempt to slow the rise of hospital costs, which are a major contributor to the premium increases.
Medical care provided near the end of a patient’s life accounts for a significant portion of total national health spending and is often inconsistent with patient wishes. New research evaluates the effects of a more detailed set of physician advance orders for frail and elderly persons.
Sitting indoors seeking relief from the summer heat? Here’s a montage of cool and refreshing health care items, including CPOE systems, accountable care organizations, Massachusetts’ reform experience, reducing imaging, and medical management trends.
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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