According to a quarterly report from the Census Bureau health spending rose 7.3% in the first quarter, the highest gain in over five years and a substantial uptick from the first quarter of 2014's 2.2% uptick. The rise appears to be largely due to more utilization of services, with hospital spending increasing over 9%.
A Labor Department report indicates that health care costs continue to be a bigger component of overall compensation, particularly for larger employers. The bad news is that workers should expect that these higher health care costs will limit wage growth.
Big Data company Saama Technologies, which provides analytic platforms to health organizations and other customers, has gotten $35 million in new funding.
An analysis by Avalere suggests that government health programs will spend $50 billion over the next ten years just on ten new specialty drugs,including hepatitis C, cancer and cholesterol lowering medications.
Where to start? In a surge of untouched innocence, investors have provided Virgin Pulse with $92 million, that's right, $92 million, to support its "next-generation" employee well-being platform.
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.
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.