Several studies in Health Affairs focus on consumer decision-making in health care and how to "improve" that decision-making, which often seems to mean how to get the patient to agree…
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Physicians have battled for decades to keep other types of licensed providers from having an expanded scope of practice. With the advent of health reform and concerns about access and…
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Medicaid costs are driving states crazy and although the federal government is picking up most of the expansion spending, states continue to be at budgetary risk and are exploring methods…
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New methods for delivering care in a more convenient method continue to evolve, including use of online visits. A study in Health Affairs reports on results of one health plan's…
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released its initial cut at Medicare Advantage payment rates for 2014, indicating a likely low to mid-single digit decrease in reimbursement for…
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Consumer engagement in health is one of the themes of the current issue of Health Affairs. Two of the articles summarize findings regarding the effects of more engaged consumers on…
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The Government Accounting Office performed a more current analysis of the likely budgetary effects of the federal health reform law, finding that its cost containment provisions are unlikely to provide…
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More spending, higher quality? More spending, lower quality? Less spending, higher quality? Less spending, lower quality? Theories and research abound, the latest a study of acute care hospitals in The…
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Can technology be a significant driver of health spending? You betya, look at robotically-assisted surgery. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that in the…
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There is substantial controversy about the benefits of health information technology and whether those benefits outweigh the costs. A meta-study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association takes…
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Several methods are commonly used to adjust health data for the illness burden of the patients' information that is being used. A new study in the British Medical Journal suggests…
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While hospitalizations have dropped on a per capita basis in recent years, hospital spending remains the single largest bucket of overall health care costs. An Agency for Healthcare Research and…
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The 340B program was designed to allowed non-profit health care providers to obtain prescription medications cheaply in an effort to lower overall costs for poor people. A recent paper suggests…
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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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