Posts Tagged “Care Management”
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Medical Home Value
by Kevin Roche on Monday, August 30, 2010
A study of a medical home model indicates reductions in hospital admissions and readmissions and possibly a reduction in total spending. It is not clear, however, what the full economic impact was nor is it clear that most practices would see the results that this particular provider system did.
Tags: Care Management, medical home, Physicians
2010 Potpourri XXXI
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, August 28, 2010
Summer nears an end, but not our Potpourris. This one includes the costs of malpractice, an innovative provider error disclosure program, employer wellness paybacks, blood pressure medication issues, the cost of new technologies, provider pricing power and the mental health of Californians.
Tags: Care Management, Health Care Costs, Hospital, Malpractice, Personalized Medicine, Wellness and Prevention
More On Palliative Care
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Palliative care has been extensively researched and the results indicate greater quality of life and patient satisfaction for persons with terminal illness. New research suggests it also extends survival.
2010 Potpourri XXIX
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, August 14, 2010
Another Saturday, another Potpourri, featuring the acquisition of a hospital medical necessity company, Americans’ online health usage, analysis of prescriptions, California workers’ compensation, home monitoring of elderly parents, remote psychiatric evaluations and telemedicine to treat depression.
Tags: Care Management, Drugs, Elder Care, HIT, HomeCare, Medicare, Monitoring, Telemedicine, Workers Compensation
Telemedicine and Cancer Care
by Kevin Roche on Friday, July 16, 2010
A study reported in JAMA examines the use of telemedicine techniques to improve the management of pain and depression in cancer patients.
Tags: Care Management, Telemedicine
End-of-Life Care and Patients’ Preferences
by Kevin Roche on Monday, July 12, 2010
Medical care provided near the end of a patient’s life accounts for a significant portion of total national health spending and is often inconsistent with patient wishes. New research evaluates the effects of a more detailed set of physician advance orders for frail and elderly persons.
2010 Potpourri XXIV
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, July 10, 2010
Sitting indoors seeking relief from the summer heat? Here’s a montage of cool and refreshing health care items, including CPOE systems, accountable care organizations, Massachusetts’ reform experience, reducing imaging, and medical management trends.
Tags: Care Management, Government, Health Care Reform, HIT, Hospital, Medical Care
Encouraging People to Get Necessary Services
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, July 8, 2010
Preventive measures can help patients delay or prevent illness or can lead to early detection and usually better outcomes. Unfortunately many patients fail to take even the most basic preventive steps. A new study suggests just how difficult it is to change that behavior.
Better Followup May Not Prevent Hospital Readmissions
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, June 29, 2010
A common perception is that there are too many hospital readmissions which could be prevented with better discharge planning. A new study indicates that scheduling follow-up visits may not help prevent readmissions, most of which are unrelated to the original admisssion in any event.
Tags: Care Management, Hospital
Group Medical Visits
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, June 9, 2010
As long as cost pressures continue, people will search for new and better ways to control them. One area of focus has been the cost of a physician interaction and group visits are an emerging approach to reduce that cost.
Specialists as Patient Care Coordinators
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Specialist physicians are often blamed for the fragmented and expensive nature of American medical care. A perspective in the NEJM explores whether they might appropriately serve as principal physicians in the patient centered medical home models.
Tags: Care Management, Physicians
Self-Directed Care
by Kevin Roche on Friday, April 30, 2010
Here’s a novel idea–give patients a set amount of money to spend on health care needs and allow them to manage what services they use for that money. It is a notion that is spreading internationally and just represents an attempt to restore traditional economics to health care.
Tags: Care Management, Consumer Directed Health, Health Care Costs
2010 Potpourri XIII
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, April 17, 2010
More exotic gleamings from the world of health care, including self-directed care, telemedicine, point-of-care diagnostics, HCA, doctor-patient interactions and socio-economic factors in health outcomes.
Tags: Care Management, Consumers, Diagnostics, Health Care Quality, Physicians, Telemedicine
More Imaging Issues
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Use of imaging services has become the poster child for health care spending problems, even though excessive imaging may have been rather rapidly controlled by private sector use of imaging benefit managers. New research pours salt on the wounds.
Tags: Care Management, Health Care Costs
More on Regional Spending Variation
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The New England Journal of Medicine publishes dueling commentaries on geographic and provider spending variations. Having a clear understanding of whether there are providers who render more care with no better outcomes would help formulate reforms to change their behavior.
Medco Acquires DNA Direct
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, February 11, 2010
Medco’s acquisition of DNA Direct, a genetic testing management company, may be a reaction to an earlier CVS Caremark transaction, but is also a recognition of the looming flood of genomic information and products that will usher in the era of personalized medicine.
Tags: Care Management, M&A, Personalized Medicine
2010 Potpourri IV
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, February 6, 2010
Yet another sampling of health care items, relating to personalized medicine, telemedicine, wellness, disease management and using health data for comparative effectiveness research.
Tags: Care Management, Comparative Effectiveness, Personalized Medicine, Telemedicine, Wellness and Prevention
2010 Potpourri III
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, January 23, 2010
Healthy health care snacks–concierge medicine, personalized medicine, health care hiring, electronic medical records, Medicaid, disease management–all for your reading pleasure on the weekend.
Tags: Care Management, Chronic Disease, Disease Management, HIT, Medical Care, Personalized Medicine, Physician Practice Models, Physicians
Managing End-of-Life Care
by Kevin Roche on Monday, January 18, 2010
End-of-life care achieved some notoriety in the health reform debate, but it deserves thoughtful attention since it accounts for a great deal of cost and research indicates that patients’ wishes for less intensive care are often not honored. A new study looks at how physicians approach the issue.
Tags: Care Management, Medicare, Physicians
Disease Management Works If You Give It Time.
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, January 14, 2010
Skepticism has increased regarding the ability of disease management programs to create cost savings. A new white paper indicates that if the analysis is conducted over a multi-year period, savings are more likely to be found.
Weekend Potpourri VIII
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, December 19, 2009
More health care snippets, including hospital costs, wireless health in 2009, genetic testing, caring for the elderly and pay-for-performance programs. Bon Apetit!
Tags: Care Management, Pay For Performance, Personalized Medicine, Wireless
Patients More Cautious When Personally Making Medical Decisions
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Researchers looked at patients’ decision-making when they were hearing a very strong physician recommendation versus when they were solely responsible for a medical decision. The patients were more risk-avoiding than the physicians.
Remote Monitoring of Heart Failure Patients
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Journal of the American College of Cardiology published a meta-analysis of usual care for heart failure patients versus regular telephone follow-up or remote electronic monitoring, finding that the latter approaches reduced hospitalizations and death.
Weekend Potpourri II
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, October 31, 2009
Another edition of our thrilling, perhaps even chilling collection of health care tidbits for your Halloween edification.
Tags: Care Management, Medical Care
Weekend Potpourri
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, October 24, 2009
A miscellany of interesting items for your weekend browsing pleasure.
Tags: Care Management, Government, Health Care Costs, Health Care Reform, Telemedicine
The Society for Participatory Medicine
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Society for Participatory Medicine is starting a journal focused on shared decision making and other aspects of patient engagement in their medical care.
Use of Mobile Health Tools for Chronic Illness
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The California HealthCare Foundation releases a report on Participatory Health, which provides an introduction to the potential of online and mobile technologies in management of chronic illness.
Tags: Care Management, Chronic Disease, Devices, Medical Care, Telemedicine
More Variation in Spending Research
by Kevin Roche on Monday, October 19, 2009
A study reported in Circulation indicates that California teaching hospitals that utilize more resources in treating heart failure had lower rates of mortality. The study results call into question the methods and findings of some Dartmouth Atlas research. Another report looks at supply and variation in MRI usage.
Tags: Care Management, Health Care Costs, Hospital, Medical Care, Providers
More News on Medicare Advantage’s Advantages
by Kevin Roche on Friday, October 2, 2009
Another study demonstrates quality performance and better cost benefits from Medicare Advantage plans.
Tags: Care Management, Government, Health Insurance, Medicare
House Calls Returning?
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Los Angeles Times reports on a possible return of house calls.
Tags: Care Management, Medical Care, Physicians, Providers
Measuring Prevention’s Cost Savings
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A new Health Affairs article suggests a different method to measure cost savings from disease prevention and management efforts.
Tags: Care Management, Chronic Disease, Medical Care, Wellness and Prevention
Home Medical Testing and the Self-Care Movement
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Patients are increasingly involved in the management of their own health.
Tags: Care Management, Consumers, Medical Care, Patients
Hypertension Treatment Status
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, September 1, 2009
There are excellent hypertension treatments available but many Americans don’t know they have the condition and aren’t being treated.
Quality Improvement is Not Easy
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, August 27, 2009
A commentary on Medicare’s experience in attempting to improve the quality of heart failure care demonstrates just how hard it may be to get better outcomes and lower cost.
Do We Really Need Another Reminder About the Problems With Government Health Programs?
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, August 25, 2009
USA Today published an article on the federal end-stage renal disease program. The problems are typical of most government health programs.
Tags: Care Management, Chronic Disease, Government
NEHI Study Estimates Cost of Medication Non-Compliance
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, August 19, 2009
A recent report from NEHI states that medication therapy non-compliance leads to $290 billion in avoidable medical costs every year.
Tags: Care Management, Drugs, Health Care Costs, Pharmaceutical
Vertebral Fracture Treatment Studies
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, August 6, 2009
Two studies question the value of a vertebral fracture treatment, but more importantly show the utility of comparative effectiveness research.
Tags: Care Management, Comparative Effectiveness, Medical Care
Patient Involvement Is A Key to Real Reform
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Research and experience continues to confirm the value, in both cost savings and patient satisfaction, of extensive patient involvement in important health decisions.
Tags: Care Management, Consumer Directed Health, Consumers, Medical Care
Wireless Explosion
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, August 5, 2009
A number of companies are working on use of wireless technologies to improve health care.
Tags: Care Management, Devices, HIT
Telemedicine Utility and Barriers
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, July 2, 2009
Experts are recommending greater use of telemedicine in stroke assessment and treatment. There are significant barriers, however, many imposed by government.
Tags: Care Management, Health Insurance, Medical Care, Telemedicine
Shared Decision Making
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Shared decision-making for preference-sensitive conditions has the potential to improve quality and control spending. States are exploring required use of the technique and it should be considered in federal reform efforts.
Tags: Care Management, Consumers, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Health Insurance
The Value of Care Management
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, May 21, 2009
A recent article in The American Journal of Managed Care (volume 15, page 295, May 2009), described findings from a comparison within the Kaiser Permanente system of patients with diabetes who were subject to a care management program and those who were not.
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