Having a low or a high deductible insurance plan is associated with a reduction in receipt of certain care by diabetes patients, but not with a change in outcomes.
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Researchers use an interesting approach to ascertain that hospital quality measures do appear to be associated with better patient outcomes.
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Potentially avoidable deaths occur when emergency rooms send patients home who may have needed to be admitted to a hospital.
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Quality of care improved more for low sociodemographic groups than higher ones under a value-based provider contract in Massachusetts.
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A study in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that patients of female physicians have lower hospital mortality rates.
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In what appears to be good news, rates of hospital acquired conditions appear to have dropped substantially over the last five years.
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A Leavitt Partners analysis looks at what MA plans with high Star ratings do with their extra payments from CMS.
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We now return to our regularly scheduled programming, with a review of a GAO report on the federal government's use of health quality measures.
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As many would suspect, a study regarding prostate cancer in the journal Medical Care finds that compliance with process quality measures has no relationship to true outcomes such as complications and patient satisfaction and quality of life.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Impact+of+Adherence+to+Quality+Measures+for+Localized%0D%0AProstate+Cancer+on+Patient-reported+Health-related%0D%0AQuality+of+Life+Outcomes%2C+Patient+Satisfaction%2C+and%0D%0ATreatment-related+ComplicationsNotwithstanding hospitals' claims to the contrary, their employment of physicians appears to do nothing to improve quality.
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A study published in JAMA finds that a value-driven program at the University of Utah Health Care system improved quality and lowered costs.
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New research in Health Affairs seems to support the oft-questioned notion that better quality care is associated with lower medical spending.
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An initial analysis of the CMS initiative to bundle payments for knee and hip replacements finds it lowered costs while quality did not change.
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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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