October already!! Our 39th Potpourri of the year has many autumnal pleasures including selections on CMS’ Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, a proposed guidance for FDA to use for mHealth regulation, end-of-life care discussions, CMS’ multi-payer database award, expected 2012 medical trend, and delivery of unnecessary care by doctors.
In another piece of research related to hospital readmissions, the Dartmouth Atlas project released a report on variations in readmission patterns across the country and among academic medical centers. Possible reasons for the variation are explored as is the longitudinal trend, which shows no improvement.
The final look at the Kaiser employer health benefit survey examines findings on prescription drug coverage, wellness programs, retiree health plans, funding mechanisms and the effect of health care reform.
The second part of our review of the Kaiser employer health benefits survey discusses employee contributions to premiums and employee cost-sharing trends, along with developments in high-deductible plans with savings accounts.
The annual Kaiser Foundation report on employment-based health coverage finds a rapid growth in per person and per family costs in 2009, but relative stability in the number of persons who have access to health insurance at the workplace. High-deductible plans continue to show rapid enrollment increases.
We enter the year’s home stretch with a great Potpourri, focusing on comparison friction in Part D plan shopping, a Harris poll on health-related internet use, the effect of aging populations on health costs, creation of a data repository by major insurers, Mercer’s survey of employers on 2012 expected health benefit costs and AHRQ’s site on unintended EHR consequences.
A new Rand report explores the use of health information technology to assist consumers in managing their health and making decisions about health care coverage. As health care coverage changes, these tools are more important, but their utility is unproven.
As Medicare pays more and more of the nation’s total health bill, its decisions on what products and services it will reimburse for are more significant for vendors and for the growth of the overall health bill. A new RWJ brief examines that coverage process and recommends changes.
Increased disease prevalence has been hypothesized to be behind much of the growth in health spending. New research published in Health Affairs finds that prevalence growth accounts for little of the rise in spending, with most of it due to increases in treatment cost.
Maryland is unique among the states in having an all-payer hospital rate regulation system. The most recent report on the system’s performance shows that it is continuing to constrain the grow of hospital spending. Payers, hospitals and patients seem happy with the system.
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].
© 2024 Healthy Skeptic.
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