For some years researchers have examined the link, if any, between the volume of a certain type of procedure or service at a hospital and outcomes. A new study published in NEJM extends that research, finding that at a certain level volume is associated with lower mortality.
This week’s collection includes obesity, clinical trials results, how hospitals make money from physicians, strategic implications of reform, what reform is likely to do to young people’s insurance premiums and patents on genes. Enjoy!
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s final report on what is driving health care cost increases in Massachusetts confirms the preliminary version’s finding that most of the spending rise is due to nothing more than application of raw provider market power to extract high prices from private payers. Another report also examines hospitals’ pricing practices.
Health Affairs publishes a study with a creative approach to understanding hospital costs, hospital pricing, Medicare payments and market power. The authors’ conclusion is that profitable hospitals have higher expenses because they have more money to spend, and those higher expenses may make them look unprofitable in regard to Medicare payments.
Hospitals have increasingly become the hub for medical services in many communities. Trends relating to hospitals are therefore of significant interest. A recent article gives a perspective on some of those trends.
More weekend reading, in case spring hasn’t arrived where you are, covering personalized medicine, the OIG’s unheeded recommendations, robot surgery, hospital costs, venture funding and telemedicine.
One more sampling of health care news, covering provider reaction to the EHR meaningful use rule, telemedicine, people’s perceptions of their health status and insurance coverage and hospital costs and prices.
Following up on similar research, an article delves into the relationship between hospital costs and quality, finding inconsistent associations between high cost and better quality. It does not appear that low-cost hospitals have higher readmission rates and greater downstream costs.
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].
© 2024 Healthy Skeptic.
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