According to a statement by the publicity department at CMS, Medicare beneficiaries saved about $3 billion in drug costs this year due to the reform law's gradual closing of the "donut" hole.
According to a Mercer survey of large employers, health care insurance costs per employee have risen 4.5% this year and the employers expect a larger increase next year.
A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine surveys research on the effect of patient portals and finds little evidence that this form of communication between patients and doctors either improves quality or lowers costs, although patients do like using them.
http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1770672
Nov272013
A study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research suggests that use of self-monitoring mobile phone app with daily text messages can help women and racial minorities lose weight.
http://www.jmir.org/2013/11/e244/
Nov272013
Aetna is acquiring the InterGlobal Group, which provides health care coverage for about 65,000 persons in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
According to a survey reported in VentureBeat, half of angel investors regret an investment they made, usually because of overly optimistic financial projections. Angel investing is important to innovation, as they put $20 billion into companies a year, so hopefully the disappointment doesn't lead to closed wallets.
In areas where Medicare Advantage payments are still high, patients can get high-end treatment from specialized clinics, as detailed in a Miami Herald story. Unfortunately, these clinics may add to the perception that MA plans are overpaid, even though they are doing an outstanding job for patients.
The FDA has ordered 23andMe to stop selling its personalized genetic testing kits direct to consumers, highlighting the tension between consumer access to their genetic information and the regulatory need to ensure accuracy of tests and govern how the data is interpreted and used.
A new survey from IDC Health Insights finds that 58% of outpatient providers are unhappy with their EHRs, many very dissatisfied, primarily because of a negative effect on productivity.
From the Department of failed government IT projects, the Department of Defense has announced that its new EHR won't be ready until 2017, at the earliest. This following the abandonment of a joint DOD/VA EHR that was projected to cost $28 billion (yes, you read that right). This one will "only" cost $4 or $5 billion; just 10 or 100 times more than buying an off-the-shelf system would, even for this large a customer. An absurd waste of taxpayer money.
A scale that measures the relationships that patients and physicians have appears to show that poor relationships lead to perceptions of poorer quality according to a study in the Annals of Family Medicine.
http://www.annfammed.org/content/11/6/543.full
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.
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.