By Julie Appleby – UnitedHealthcare said it will expand its high-profile test of whether bundled payments for chemotherapy can help slow rising cancer treatment costs, part of a growing effort by insurers to find new ways to pay for care.
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By Art Gross – A recent study by the Ponemon Institute calculated the cost of a healthcare related data breach to be $363 per record. This was the highest amount across all industries. A financial data breach cost $215 per record and a retail data breach cost $165 per record.
By Don Michaels, PhD – The shift from fee-for-service to value-based care may be moving slowly, but there’s little doubt that the change is inevitable. According to a recent survey by PwC, alternative incentive based payment models like bundles and capitation currently make up a small percentage of payments.
By John Halamka MD – My assessment of the current Meaningful Use program and a proposal to better serve the needs of stakeholders. I’m likely going to violate many rules with this post. First, it’s over 1500 words, which is not ideal for social media. Second, there are many who will find my conclusions politically unpopular. I’m not criticizing people, I’m just commenting on ideas.
By Anna Gorman – California and the federal government agreed in concept Saturday on a $6.2-billion deal to reform the Medicaid program and to help pay for care of the low-income population. The largest share of the funds – nearly $3.3 billion – is aimed at helping public hospitals improve the safety and quality of patient care.
By Gregory Ator MD – It is well known that healthcare is moving from volume to value – value defined as optimal outcomes for the least cost. And with some urgency, many organizations are trying to figure out how to successfully navigate this transition.
By Julie Rovner – Medicine, meet Big Data. For generations, physicians have been trained in basic science and human anatomy to diagnose and treat the individual patient. But now, massive stores of data about what works for which patients are literally changing the way medicine is practiced.
By Bennett Lauber – In the classic Alfred Hitchcock film “Rope,” Hitchcock shot continuous scenes for periods lasting up to 10 minutes (the length of the film camera magazine), continuously panning from actor to actor, though most shots in the film wound up being shorter.
By Andy Slavitt – Recently, prescription drugs have been in the news a lot, particularly with respect to their cost. Millions of Americans rely on prescription medications to manage chronic illnesses or treat acute conditions, and drug innovation has resulted in better health outcomes for people across our nation.