Headlines – Page 763 – Healthy Skeptic

Jul 29 2010

Kaiser Health News

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

The federal budget deficit is expected to set a record this year, at nearly $1.5 trillion, or 10 percent of GDP, and next year will be about the same, with a deficit exceeding $1.4 trillion for a third straight year.

Jul 29 2010

HealthLeaders Media

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

Last week the nation’s largest health insurers received a letter from the AMA and 46 state medical societies that sharply criticized the accuracy and reliability of the cost-profiling mechanisms that many payers use to rate and tier physicians.

Jul 29 2010

Wall Street Journal

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

An annual scorecard on benefits shows that public employees continue to have richer benefits than their private-sector counterparts

Jul 29 2010

HealthLeaders Media

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

Medical journals and federal public policy documents are sounding a refrain: too many doctors are ordering too many expensive, unnecessary and possibly cancer-provoking tests

Jul 29 2010

Wall Street Journal

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

CVS Caremark will run Aetna’s pharmacy-benefit business for at least the next 12 years, according to the terms of a deal announced

Jul 29 2010

Wall Street Journal

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

Insured Americans are using fewer medical services, raising questions about whether patients are consuming less health care as they pick up a greater share of the costs

Jul 29 2010

HealthLeaders Media

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

AHRQ’s annual release of state-by-state quality data now has data on health insurance, including healthcare quality categorized by private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and the uninsured

Jul 28 2010

MarketWatch

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

Vestar Capital Partners and Health Grades, Inc. signed a definitive agreement for an affiliate of Vestar to acquire all of the outstanding shares of HealthGrades for $8.20 per share, which represents a premium of approximately 32% over HealthGrades’ 30-day average closing stock price

Jul 28 2010

Wall Street Journal

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

Insurers including WellPoint and Aetna are experimenting with programs that allow heart-failure patients to transmit their vital signs and other indicators of health from home to a medical caregiver using electronic devices

Jul 28 2010

Bloomberg

By Kevin Roche Headlines No Comments

As part of its effort to encourage widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHR) systems, the federal government has eased the requirements that health care providers must meet if they want to receive reimbursements for such projects.