Despite the change in Medicare reimbursement designed to ensure more appropriate prescribing for in-office oncology drugs, a study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that oncologists continued to prescribe such medications at the same or an increased rate.
A study in Health Affairs finds that for-profit home health agencies seeing Medicare patients have higher costs and lower quality than non-profit ones.
In an effort to ensure that especially elderly people take their drugs as prescribed, a variety of new ways of packaging medications, including electronic devices to tell when a person has at least removed the drug from the package. A metareview in JAMA finds little strong evidence to suggest that such methods increase adherence, although certain reminder systems may have had an effect.
Universal Health Services, the large for-profit hospital chain, is acquiring Cygnet Health Care, which operates inpatient behavioral health programs in the UK, for $335 million.
HealthPort, which helps organizations with HIPAA and other compliance issues, has merged with OneSource Document, which sells information release services.
A meta-review in Telemedicine & eHealth finds that tele-monitoring of very ill chronic disease patients can reduce mortality, decrease hospital and ER use and possibly save money.
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.