A study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine found that in the New Haven area, Medicaid patients waited substantially longer than did commercial ones to get a followup appointment at most physician practices, although they had shorter waits for a more serious issue, hypertension, than for one like back pain. Helps explain ER misuse and demonstrates impact of low reimbursement rates.
In a very complex transaction, patient engagement vendor MedHelp is being split between disease and health management vendor Staywell, which is itself majority owned by Merck and which is acquiring disease management focused-apps from MedHelp, and consumer health website vendor Vitals, which is acquiring the similar parts of MedHelp.
medhelp staywell
Oct192017
HealthChannels, a provider of medical scribes, is acquiring Elite Medical, which is in the same business.
Large workers' comp managed care vendor Mitchell International has acquired Consumer Health Connections, which provides telehealth services for the workers' comp market.
Wellness and analytics provider Welltok pays $80 million to acquire Tea Leaves Health, which offers "engagement" software for hospitals to connect with physicians and consumers.
Azeala Health, a provider of IT software to health care entities, brightens its future by acquiring Prognosis Healthcare, which offers EMRs to rural hospitals.
Here is another firm trying to acquire its way to success. Atos, a French IT outsourcing firm, is buying three US health IT consultants, Pursuit Healthcare, Conduent Healthcare Provider Consulting and Conduent Breakaway.
Don't be a fool, invest in JOOL, its a gem, get it. Apparently some investors did, shining up JOOL Health with $4.5 million in capital, apparently, as best I can tell from the gibberish in the press release, for something that has to do with digital and patient engagement.
Express Scripts is buying EviCore for $3.6 billion. The purchase suggests that ESI recognizes that the PBM business is losing steam and facing price pressures and a move to broader care management capabilities may provide better future returns.
Trillian Health apparently intents to acquire a trillion companies, as it has made three recent acquisitions to bolster its health data and analytics business, including Expression Health Analytics, Aegis Health, and Clariture Health.
According to an AHRQ Statistical Brief, 35% of child visits to a physician were paid for by Medicaid and the average payment per visit by Medicaid was $88 less than that paid by private insurance. Hard-to-imagine that many physicians will continue to serve children covered by Medicaid with kind of gap.
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.