In the first quarter of 2014, health care spending jumped by an alarming 9.9%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
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The Rand Corporation looks at the role medical products play in health spending growth and what can be done to encourage the development and use of only high-value innovations.
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The Bureau of Economic Analysis adds to the literature on understanding geographic variation in health care spending by attempting to understand how much may be due to price or to…
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Every year the International Foundation of Health Plans issues a report comparing pricing on common treatments across the developed world and illustrating that the United States has more of a…
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Altarum's report on health spending as of February 2014 shows 6.7% year-over-year growth, with the highest rate of growth in drug spending, followed by hospital inpatient and home health. The overall growth rate is accelerating and is significantly higher than GDP growth.
http://altarum.org/sites/default/files/uploaded-related-files/CSHS-Spending-Brief_April%202014.pdfAn article in Health Affairs examines whether advance directives are associated with less aggressive end-of-life care for people with various forms of dementia.
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The HHS Office of Inspector General has issued a report recommending that Congress or CMS reduce payments for hospital outpatient surgeries to the same rates as those for freestanding surgery centers, which could save billions a yearn for CMS and beneficiaries.
http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region5/51200020.pdfThe IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics releases a report on health care spending and its relation to prescription drug use, finding an acceleration in the growth rate.
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Express Scripts' 2013 Drug Trend Report provides the usual insight on medication utilization and cost from one of the countries largest pharmacy benefit managers.
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A paper from the Bureau of Economic Analysis compares the use of survey and claims data to measure health spending for persons with employer-sponsored health insurance.
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A paper from the Bureau of Economic Analysis finds that consolidation in the physician marketplace leads to higher service prices for commercial health plans, but unlike most markets, these higher…
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A brief from the Employee Benefits Research Institute examines use of prescription drugs by enrollees in a high-deductible insurance plan, finding a greater percentage of generic prescriptions but in the…
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Research published in JAMA Internal Medicine finds that continuity of care for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries seems to reduce utilization and spending.
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According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health spending rose at an annualized rate of 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2014, a clear warning sign, and the sharpest uptick in many years.. Since medical price inflation has been relatively muted, most of the increase must be attributable to greater utilization.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/03/30/health-care-spending/7007987/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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