Research in the journal Medical Care finds that use of long-term acute care hospitals by Medicare likely increases costs with worse outcomes for some patients while lowering costs and improving…
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A report commissioned by MedPAC finds that increased use of hospice has not lowered spending at the end-of-life for Medicare beneficiaries.
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One explanation for higher health spending in the US is its higher disease burden, demonstrated in a recent KFF blog post.
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The American Health Policy Institutes issues a report suggesting that maybe there will be a limit to how long we can endure continually rising health spending.
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Research published in the Journal of Health Economics finds that greater concentration in a hospital or insurer market leads to higher premiums.
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A National Bureau of Economic Research paper suggests that Medicaid has a value to its beneficiaries that is less than what it costs government to support the program.
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A study in Health Affairs furthers the view that higher professional labor costs are one source of excess health spending in the United States, but not a major contributor.
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A CMS demonstration for health care focused on intensive care, for Medicare beneficiaries with heavy health needs shows early promise.
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Research published in Health Affairs finds that increased concentration among orthopedic surgeons in a market is associated with higher fees.
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The Society of Actuaries releases a study examining unsatisfied demand for health services among the newly insured, which may impact overall utilization.
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PWC's Health Research Institute gives us its current guess on 2016's medical trend, which it projects to be down slightly from what is being experienced this year, but the reasoning…
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According to a quarterly report from the Census Bureau health spending rose 7.3% in the first quarter, the highest gain in over five years and a substantial uptick from the first quarter of 2014's 2.2% uptick. The rise appears to be largely due to more utilization of services, with hospital spending increasing over 9%.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/06/11/new-evidence-health-spending-is-growing-faster-again/?utm_campaign=KFF%3A+Drew%27s+Columns&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=18295944&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--DbucO78doakbc4Ra_ZMTUENyRv1RbZY9bS8Q36MjMbh6dWhNQ7YSdBp62gxsL3ISOS-uJxGN0kFTrYV2XNfLObC8tOw&_hsmi=18295944An analysis by Avalere suggests that government health programs will spend $50 billion over the next ten years just on ten new specialty drugs,including hepatitis C, cancer and cholesterol lowering medications.
http://avalere.com/expertise/managed-care/insights/the-future-cost-of-innovation-an-analysis-of-the-impact-of-breakthrough-theThe Altarum Institute's briefs on health spending, health care prices and utilization for May 2015 are available and support the notion that spending growth is accelerating.
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According to a New York Times analysis, hospitals are continuing to raise prices at a healthy, or depending on your perspective, unhealthy clip.
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About this Blog
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 khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.
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