American Well, the telehealth company, has raised an additional $80 million in capital. You have to wonder how, in an industry with no barriers to entry and no real differentiators, anything thinks they are going to get a return on this investment.
According to eHealth Insurance, consumers who are not eligible for subsidies but are shopping on the exchanges during this open enrollment period have selected plans that on average have a 16% higher premium than the average for plans selected last year, although the increase is only 2% higher than plans selected in the same period last year. Consumers are also choosing plans with lower deductibles.
In the latest evidence that having health insurance does not automatically mean people get more preventive services, much less have better health outcomes, a study in NEJM finds that young adults up to age 26 had significant but relatively minor increases in use of only 2 out of 5 common preventive services, and the study did not have as a variable whether they actually were enrolled in insurance.
A study of the VHA's patient portal finds that while 17% of veterans had finalized registration in the portal, a very small percent actually use any of the functionality, other than about 10% using it for getting prescriptions.
According to Global Data, worldwide pharmaceutical revenues may decline by $65 billion by 2019 due to the expiration of patents on some blockbuster drugs.
Dec122014
SocialWellth (they are lisped on the NASDAQ) has acquired Happtique. SocialWellth is digital engagement company and Happtique is an app prescribing tool for physicians. New name will be HappWellth or SocTique or something like thath.
I predict that Predilytics will announce that it raised an additional $10 million in capital to support its machine learning and analytics business for providers and payers. Oh wait, maybe that already happened.
A few years safety concerns led to more limits on the hours residents worked. Of course, research published in JAMA shows that those limits haven't led to any better quality or less safety issues.
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.
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