Headlines – Page 428 – Healthy Skeptic

May 09 2012

Wall Street Journal

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

The amount you and your spouse may need to cover health expenses in retirement climbed 4% from last year to $240,000, according to a new estimate by Fidelity Investments.

May 08 2012

HealthLeaders Media

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

Healthways is broadening its business model as it prepares for the loss of its Cigna contract, which over the course of the 14-year relationship grew to represent about 20% of Healthways’ annual revenue.

May 08 2012

Fiscal Times

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

NowClinic, which started in 2010 and has expanded into 22 states, is part of the explosion of Web- and telephone-based medical services that experts say are transforming the delivery of primary health care

May 08 2012

Wall Street Journal

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

Obesity rates largely leveled off in the U.S. a decade ago, suggesting the worst might have been over. But about one-third of Americans are still obese, and a new study out Monday predicts that percentage will climb to 42% by 2030.

May 08 2012

Politico.com

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

A study in the May edition of Health Affairs finds that hospitals’ power to win steep payment increases — and insurers’ relative inability to resist — varies quite a bit from one market to another.

May 08 2012

Washington Post

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

The Food and Drug Administration is weighing policy changes that could make some of America’s most commonly used medications. The proposal would make accessing drugs significantly easier — and, in the eyes of some, perhaps make doctors less necessary.

May 08 2012

NPR.org

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

What if how much you paid for a drug was based on how much it might help you, instead of the sticker price? Some big employers are already taking this tack, known as value-based insurance design, by lowering copayments for medicines to manage chronic conditions like diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

May 08 2012

Wall Street Journal

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

In 2010, some 21% of adults under the age of 65 told a government survey that they had an unmet health-care need, 20% said they hadn’t been able to get into a doctor’s office and 39% said they hadn’t had a dental visit.

May 07 2012

Wall Street Journal

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

Medicare Covers In-Home Care

May 07 2012

HealthLeaders Media

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

Overall, there were 13.8 million cosmetic procedures in 2011, up 5% since 2010, and 5.5 million reconstructive plastic surgeries in 2011, up 5% over 2010. Hospitals that have offered a wide range of multidisciplinary programs related to cosmetic as well as medical procedures are seeing increased patient load