New research covering aspects of end-of-life care in Canada and the US reveals that costs continue to be high, even though the use of palliative care in the United States…
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Is there anything scary about health care? Yes if you have to pay for it! Nothing scary about our Potpourri, just soothing health care nuggets, covering alternative therapies for back…
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CSC put out a White Paper on Health Information Requirements for Accountable Care which examines the necessary functions an effective ACO will have and what health information technology will be…
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The complexity and rate of change in health care sometimes makes spotting major trends difficult. One appears to be growth of home-based diagnostic and therapeutic care. An article in the…
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There is so much health spending in the United States that it is sometimes hard to isolate the big buckets. Nursing home residents have very high medical costs and many…
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The leaves disappear from the trees but our Potpourri is eternal, this week entertaining you on projected drug spending next year, prescription abandonment rates, avoiding hospitalizations for home care patients,…
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Research reported in the NEJM looked at differences in quality of care for patients who either tested themselves at home or were tested in a clinic to guide the administration…
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As the use of pay-for-reporting and pay-for-performance grows, there is more research into whether care processes being measured are really related to ultimate health outcomes. A new article says not…
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The days shorten but the potpourri stays strong, this week including information on the safety of FDA-cleared devices; medication adherence; genetic tests; the FDA and CMS working together to review…
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Two recent publications explore the potential of widespread use of the medical home concept to create better primary care and coordination of overall care for patients, and examine barriers and…
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A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine gives heart to supporters of telephone-based care management programs. Largely because of reduced hospitalizations, patients in the intervention arm had…
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Telemedicine is being applied to many diseases and conditions and telemonitoring is spreading as a core component of self-management of health and a method to ensure greater continuity of care.…
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