The Government Accounting Office examines trends in drug spending in Medicare Part B, which covers drugs administered in a doctor's office. Looking at the 55 most expensive Part B drugs,…
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Employee benefits consulting firm releases results from its latest survey of employers on health benefits. While spending growth has moderated in recent years, it continues at an above inflation and…
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An article in Nature describes a study of over 1000 individual genomes to identify variation. This is an important step in the continuing evolution of personalized medicine, which is proving…
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Thanks be given for our last Potpourri before Thanksgiving, a table spread with delectable bites of information on hospital readmissions and quality measure performance, health plan enrollment growth, health price…
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The "fiscal cliff" deficits, and debt are very much in the news these days. A Congressional Budget Office report indicates how much of our spending difficulty is attributable to health…
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A substantial amount of Medicare and overall health spending is incurred in the last few months of patients' lives. Much of this spending is due to intensive care that obviously…
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Everyone is concerned about health spending growth, the primary cause of which is unit price increases. So why are obvious methods to reduce unit price of services, like substituting less-expensive…
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Research reported in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that a hospital pay-for-performance program in part of England may have led to reduced mortality for three conditions, with pneumonia…
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Thank God the election is finally over, but our Potpourri is never-ending, this week bringing you the latest on why comparative effectiveness research results don't translate to practice, innovations to…
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A brief from the Urban Institute examines the premium support proposal to reform Medicare, suggesting instead that Medicare Advantage be changed. This ideologically driven report ignores basic economics and the…
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