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 use of an online model for treating some conditions.
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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 a fresh look at this question.
The latest Pew Research survey relating to health care asks about how people track health matters and finds that relatively few use technology, even though easily available, for this purpose.
An article by Rand Corp researchers published in Health Affairs indicates that electronic health records and other aspects of health information technology are not fulfilling their promise, whatever that was. The authors give reasons for the disappointing performance and suggest remedies.
The Center for Health Affairs releases a report regarding opportunities for patient navigation tools and services to improve health care quality and potentially impact spending.
Our penultimate Potpourri for 2012 is a festive blend of health data, including avoidance of health care due to costs, rates of expected spending increases in 2013, costs for younger versus older physicians, internet versus print health interventions, medical home results and poor health behaviors and health spending.
The other exchange in health care–health information exchanges–are designed to ensure that all the data whizzing around in all the fancy new electronic medical record systems and other provider and payer systems can be easily shared across the system for clinical and administrative purposes. A new report looks at the status of these exchanges.
Deloitte Consulting and the American Medical Informatics Association released results from a survey on the state of informatics in health care. Much of the supposed improvements in health care quality and cost are dependent on greater use of information technology and resulting data and the survey assesses progress on the objective of more and better HIT use.
The light fades but not our evanescent Potpourri, this week featuring stories on computerized point of entry ordering, the presence of large treatment effects in research, characteristics of patients with readmissions, a survey on Medicare physician reimbursement and a study on family caregivers.
Research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine examines the effects of allowing patients to read the notes written by physicians about their health and care. Patients generally seem to regard the practice very positively and it appears to have little negative impact on physician work processes.
An article and accompanying editorial in the Annals of Internal Medicine discuss the effect of non-payment for hospital-acquired catheter-linked urinary tract infections, finding that the underlying data is likely so inaccurate that the policy cannot work as intended.
Another luminescent Potpourri, focusing on the ACA’s high-risk pool plan; controlling health spending in Massachusetts; what components of EHRs and HIEs may control costs; another survey of employers and dealing with hospital pricing power.
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 [email protected].
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