Not that we really need any more evidence, but a Government Accounting Office report finds that physicians who own a physical therapy practice refer more Medicare beneficiaries to physical therapy than do doctors with no ownership interest, although less services per beneficiary are received. This suggests that those with an ownership interest are referring patients with less of a need.
http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/662860.pdf
Jun042014
Availity, a provider of health information exchange services, has acquired RevPoint Healthcare Technologies to bolster its capabilities to help providers with revenue collection from patients.
According to a survey, one third of Americans say that the health reform law implementation will cause them to delay retirement because of higher health care costs.
NetHealth, which provides EMR and office management software to outpatient specialty departments, has acquired ReDoc, which helps therapists with documentation and billing.
Decision Resources Manhattan Research Taking the Pulse 2014 report suggests that mobile communications usage continues to gain in popularity with physicians, who often engage with patients in this manner and that telemedicine is making slow but steady gains.
According to Markets & Markets, the health care business intelligence market had about $2.4 billion in revenue in 2013 and will grow at a compounded rate of 15% annually for the next several years.
Ebix, a large vendor of health care software development services, has acquired Healthcare Magic, a provider of online physician advice, to advance its telemedicine strategy. The purchase price was $6 million upfront with the potential for up to $12 million in earn-outs.
Jun032014
Healthcare.com, which offers a website to help people find health insurance, has received $2 million in funding.
Genex, the large provider of services for workers' compensation plans, is switching PE owners, with Apax Partners buying it from Stone Point for a price apparently in excess of $400 million.
Proteus Digital Health has raised an additional $120 million in capital to support its ingestible medication compliance device and other digital health initiatives.
Amsurg, a large operator of ambulatory surgery centers, is apparently interested in buying Sheridan Healthcare, which offers physician staffing and outsourcing services, particularly in anesthesia, for $2.3 billion.
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.