More midsummer musings, covering possible replacements for AWP, the effect of Part D on heart failure drug use, the VA's telehealth programs, venture capital activity, self-management of high blood pressure,…
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More commentary on MedPAC's Annual Report, focusing on the care of dual-eligible beneficiaries and the use of shared decision-making in the Medicare population.
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MedPAC's annual report always contains many useful analyses of health care issues, complete with research citations. This year's report covers several topics of general interest, including effective benefit designs and…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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A study reported in JAMA examines the use of telemedicine techniques to improve the management of pain and depression in cancer patients.
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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…
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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…
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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 khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.