by Kevin Roche on Saturday, February 13, 2010
One more Saturday….morning. And another potpourri of health care news. This one includes health information technology, consumer directed health plans, guidelines, support group functioning, end-of-life care and telemedicine.
Tags: Consumer Directed Health, Consumers, End-of-Life Care, HIT, Pay For Performance, Telemedicine
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, October 27, 2009
A Harris poll looks at Americans’ attitudes toward mobile healthcare and finds that those who use health care the most are also the most disengaged from these new technologies.
Tags: Consumers, HIT, Medical Care, Telemedicine
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.
Tags: Care Management, Consumer Directed Health, Consumers
by Kevin Roche on Friday, October 16, 2009
Brookings forsees a health system which is organized around consumers’ management of their own care, with extensive use of mobile and telehealth technologies, and reimbursement and incentives to encourage widespread adoption of this consumer-centered approach.
Tags: Consumer Directed Health, Consumers, Medical Care, Telemedicine
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, October 14, 2009
AHRQ has released a survey of consumer attitudes about electronic health records and health IT. The people in these focus groups were less enthusiastic about the subject than many experts are.
Tags: Consumers, HIT, PHRs
by Kevin Roche on Friday, October 9, 2009
Several geneticists examine DTC genotyping and recommend some improvements.
Tags: Consumers, Genomics, Medical Care, Personalized Medicine
by Kevin Roche on Monday, September 21, 2009
New research reveals complex aspects of patients’ decision-making, depending on how information is presented.
Tags: Consumer Directed Health, Consumers, Medical Care, Patients
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
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, August 6, 2009
Patients are responsible for an increasing share of their medical expenses, which has increased provider bad debt and collection expense. In response, providers are asking to be paid at the time of service.
Tags: Consumers, HIT, Patients, Providers
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
by Kevin Roche on Monday, August 3, 2009
A new study shows increasing amounts of US health care spending are caused by obesity.
Tags: Chronic Disease, Consumers, Health Care Costs, Wellness and Prevention
by Kevin Roche on Monday, July 27, 2009
A new study provides more evidence on the effects of high deductible health coverage.
Tags: Consumer Directed Health, Consumers
by Kevin Roche on Monday, July 27, 2009
Any health reform needs to ensure that there are adequate incentives to motivate individuals to take responsibility for lifestyle decisions that affect health.
Tags: Consumer Directed Health, Consumers, Incentives, Wellness and Prevention
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Patient cost sharing reduces utilization, but appears to limit use of appropriate as well as inappropriate care.
Tags: Consumers, Government, Health Care Costs, Incentives
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, July 2, 2009
A recent Kaiser Foundation data note looks at attitudes on paying for health reform.
Tags: Consumers, Government, Health Care Reform
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
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, June 18, 2009
Many unions and some disease advocacy groups are objecting to the wellness and prevention provisions proposed in some health reform measures. In a USA Today article, the difficulties of our “system” once again point out the impediments to improvement.
Tags: Consumers, Health Insurance, Incentives, Wellness and Prevention
by Kevin Roche on Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Wall Street Journal article summarized some research results regarding the potential cost savings of prevention and wellness efforts, particularly for persons with chronic diseases. The overall conclusion is that not much money is likely to be saved by such methods, primarily because the cost of these programs when applied to a large population tends to outweigh the health care cost savings which eventually accrue.
Tags: Chronic Disease, Consumers, Disease Management, Medical Care, Wellness and Prevention
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, June 11, 2009
Illumina has announced that for $48,000 a consumer can have their entire DNA sequenced
Tags: Consumers, Genomics, Medical Care, Personalized Medicine