healthcare costs

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Immigrants Help Medicare Stay Solvent

Noam N. Levey | Los Angeles Times | May 29, 2013

Immigrants in the United States both legally and illegally are helping sustain Medicare, contributing about $14 billion more a year to the federal health program for the elderly than they use in medical services, a new study indicates. Read More »

Implementing Insurance Exchanges — Lessons from Europe

Ewout van Ginneken and Katherine Swartz | New England Journal of Medicine | August 23, 2012

State-based health insurance exchanges are a key component of the health care reforms included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Starting in January 2014, each state's exchange will provide a marketplace where individuals and small employers can compare and purchase health plans. The idea is both to expand health insurance coverage and to foster competition among insurers, thereby promoting cost containment. Read More »

Improved Interoperability Needed To Fulfill Health IT's Promise

Susan D. Hall | FierceHealthIT | January 8, 2013

Health IT has failed to live up to its promise so far, largely because it's not interconnected or easy to use, and because providers have not made changes in the way they deliver healthcare services to reap its benefits, according to Arthur Kellerman, M.D., a policy analyst with RAND Corp., who writes in this month's Health Affairs. Read More »

In Health Care, Price Transparency Alone Isn’t Enough

Ki Mae Heussner | GigaOM | January 4, 2012

As startups and consumer advocates push for more transparency in health care pricing, a study in the Journal of Consumer Research looks at how the price of medication can influence consumers’ perceived health risk. Read More »

In Second Look, Few Savings From Digital Health Records

Reed Abelson and Julie Creswell | New York Times | January 10, 2013

The conversion to electronic health records has failed so far to produce the hoped-for savings in health care costs and has had mixed results, at best, in improving efficiency and patient care, according to a new analysis by the influential RAND Corporation. Read More »

In Second Look, Few Savings From Digital Health Records

Reed Abelson and Julie Creswell | CNBC | January 11, 2013

The conversion to electronic health records has failed so far to produce the hoped-for savings in health care costs and has had mixed results, at best, in improving efficiency and patient care, according to a new analysis by the influential RAND Corporation. Read More »

Increasing Transparency, Activating Patients: The Case For Open Medical Notes

Glenn D. Steele Jr. | RWJF | October 11, 2012

A group of health leaders, consumer advocates, and medical professionals are gathering in Washington, D.C., today to advance a simple idea that I see as transformational—having doctors make medical notes available to their patients so they can become more engaged in their care. Read More »

Independent Doctors Unite To Fight National Trend Toward Hospitals Buying Physician Groups

Marni Jameson | Orlando Sentinel | April 3, 2013

Since January, at least 114 local doctors have traded their independence for steady paychecks from hospitals. The move, part of a nationwide trend, has wide implications not only for doctors but also for patients' pocketbooks. Read More »

Indian Hospitals Could Show U.S. Hospitals How To Save Money Without Cutting Quality

Vijay Govindarajan and Ravi Ramamurti | The Washington Post | November 1, 2013

No matter how the fight over Obamacare shakes out, the biggest challenge facing U.S. health care will remain reducing costs while improving quality of care and access for patients. The experience of a few innovative Indian hospitals may point the way forward. Read More »

Industrial Revolution Unravels, Collaborative Economy Rises Says Jeremiah Owyang

Pam Baker | FierceBigData | February 5, 2014

Just about anyone who works at analyzing social media knows the name Jeremiah Owyang. He was, after all, one of the first to accurately predict social media would take the world by storm--a contrarian view back in the day when nearly everyone was convinced social media was only a fad. Now he's predicting that the industrial revolution is about to completely unravel and be replaced by a new collaborative economy... Read More »

Infographic: 8 Innovative Technologies Transforming Digital Health

Jasmine Pennic | HIT Consultant | July 2, 2013

Infographic visualization created by MeMD highlights 8 new innovative technology transforming digital health to reduce costs and improve consumer healthcare. Read More »

Infographic: Healthcare Quality Revolution On Hawaii

Jamie Thompson | Government Health IT | August 29, 2012

This infographic from the Hawaii Island Beacon Community illustrates how the organization aims to transform healthcare on the island. Read More »

Information Asymmetry – The Politics Of Health IT Policy

Adrian Gropper | The Health Care Blog | November 9, 2013

Let’s recognize Healthcare.gov as the dawn of mass patient engagement – and applaud it. Before this website, patients were along for the ride. Employers choose most of the insurance benefits, hospital web portals are an afterthought, and getting anything done with an insurance company, for both doctors and patients, means a phone call and paper. [...] Read More »

Intel And Pitney Bowes Inc. Offer Dossia Personal Health Record To Employees

Press Release | Intel, Dossia, Pitney Bowes | March 1, 2013

Two additional members of the Dossia Consortium are empowering their employees to control healthcare spending and improve health and wellness Read More »

Interoperability Issues Keep Clinicians From Sharing Health Info Electronically

Julie Bird | FierceHealthIT | October 3, 2012

Clinicians want to share health care information electronically, but are stymied by electronic health records that can't communicate with one another, a lack of information-exchange infrastructure, and the expense of setting up electronic interfaces and information exchanges, a new survey finds. Read More »