Our Memorial Day Potpourri, celebrating health information such as the growth of high-deductible plans, physician starting salaries, benefit design for high-cost conditions, why emergency room physicians order tests, the use of telehealth for heart failure patients and sources of physician pay.
As noted in yesterday’s post, the Trustees of the Medicare Hospital and Supplementary Funds recognized the inadequacy of the official projections of Medicare’s financial condition, and therefore had an alternative, and bleaker, scenario prepared.
The Medicare Trustees have released the 2011 report on the status of the Medicare funds, indicating that they will be exhausted sooner than anticipated, due both to the recession and higher spending.
An index that tracks medical spending shows that while per capita spending continues to rise, the rate of growth has slowed, particularly for Medicare. Hospital spending continues to be the fastest growing category.
An article in JAMA discusses research on the use of remote monitoring teams in intensive care units, finding significant benefits in consistency and quality of care and likely lower costs.
Once more into the world of health care to find nuggets of useful information, this week including the legality of wellness programs, the switch to ICD-10, pragmatic trials, the status of the workers’ comp industry, consumer health care sentiment, and hospital ER strategies.
Notwithstanding clear research demonstrating the percutaneous coronary intervention has no significant outcomes advantages over medical therapy, almost no change in practice patterns has been observed, suggesting that doctors are seeking to maintain their incomes.
A Health Affairs article discusses health care for elderly persons living in retirement communities and how various models might help improve care coordination and reduce spending.
An editorial in the Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy illustrates common pitfalls in creating guidelines based on certain kinds of research and explains why cause and effect can often be wrongly inferred in the absence of randomized trials.
The 2011 Milliman Medical Index was released, showing a 7.3% increase for a family of four covered by an employer sponsored PPO plan. Premium share and other out-of-pocket payments continue to rise faster than overall cost and unit prices, especially for hospital services, are the main source of the continued higher spending.
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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