The Choosing Wisely campaign is designed to encourage physicians to avoid ordering services of questionable value, but so far not much change in the use of the initial list of suspect items.
Results from CMS' Comprehensive Primary Care initiative are decidedly mixed. In 2014 the 433 practices that served 377,000 beneficiaries saved about $24 million but that is before offsetting fees and doesn't say what the results were at the practice level. Only one region had savings after the fees.
Hixme Insurance Solutions has hit investors up for $10.14 million as it builds its software to support employers using private exchanges to offer health coverage and other benefits.
Binary Fountain, which offers health care firms reputation management and patient experience analytics services, has coupled with investors to raise $16 million.
A Government Accounting Office Report will cheer up by reporting that at least $125 billion of your tax dollars are spent on improper payments, with much of that sum being accounted for by Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-92T
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.