healthcare costs

See the following -

Technology Key To Approaching Overhaul Of Military Health System

Dan Bowman | FierceHealthIT | July 17, 2013

Health technology will be critical to a planned overhaul of the Military Health System, which is expected to save the U.S. Department of Defense $2.4 billion over a six-year span, according to a DoD report. Read More »

Telehealth To Grow Six-Fold By 2017

Ken Terry | InformationWeek | January 23, 2013

Remote patient monitoring will ramp up worldwide, largely driven by U.S hospitals working to reduce readmissions and avoid Medicare penalties, says InMedica study.
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Telemedicine Options Improve for IHS & VA Patients

Briana Wipf | Great Falls Tribune | June 25, 2013

Connecting patients in rural locations with providers hundreds, or even thousands, of miles away continues to be a challenge for Indian Health Services and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, but one that coordinators say it’s worth it for patient care and cost savings. Read More »

Ten Reasons Why Hospitals, Health Plans And Medical Groups Should Invest In Developing Their Physicians’ Patient-Centered Communication Skills

Stephen Wilkins | Health Tech Hatch | May 29, 2013

It’s no secret that poor communication tops the list of patient complaints about their physicians.  [...] While understandable, that kind of a response seems to demean the interpersonal exchange which is the very essence of the physician-patient relationship. Read More »

The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill: Colonoscopies Explain Why U.S. Leads The World In Health Expenditures

Elisabeth Rosenthal | New York Times | June 1, 2013

Deirdre Yapalater’s recent colonoscopy at a surgical center near her home here on Long Island went smoothly [...]. The test, which found nothing worrisome, racked up what is likely her most expensive medical bill of the year: $6,385. Read More »

The (So Far) Failed Promise Of Electronic Medical Records

Megan McArdle | The Daily Beast | January 21, 2013

Remember how Obamacare was going to "Bend the cost curve" for health care spending? That was OMB director Peter Orszag, back when Obamacare was being debated.  There were a number of theories about how it would accomplish this... Read More »

The ACO Failure Hypothesis: Likely But Not Inevitable

Les Funtleyder | The Health Care Blog | April 28, 2013

We recently participated in a program at Columbia Business School’s Healthcare Program on whether ACOs (Accountable Care Organizations) will fail. For those of you that don’t know, ACOs are one of the structures promulgated by PPACA (aka Obamacare) designed to encourage better cost control and quality improvement in the healthcare system. Read More »

The Cost-Benefit Calculation Of Electronic Health Records Systems

Gienna Shaw | FierceHealthIT | August 19, 2013

It's discouraging to read that more than half of physicians say the costs of electronic health records systems outweigh the financial benefits. But it's also heartening to see that, in the survey of 1,200 employed and independent physicians, most agree the benefits to patient care do justify the investment. Read More »

The Costly Darkside Of EMR Implementations

Edmund Billings | HIT Consultant | January 3, 2013

Dr. Billings explores the costly darkside of EMR implementations significant maintenance, development and consultancy costs after implementing an EMR system Read More »

The Culprit Behind High U.S. Health Care Prices

Uwe E. Reinhardt | The New York Times | June 7, 2013

Elizabeth Rosenthal’s eye-opening article about health care costs in The New York Times on Sunday was a reminder of how much more Americans pay for given procedures than citizens in health systems abroad. What was probably more surprising to most readers was the huge price differentials for identical procedures... Read More »

The Dubious Promise Of Digital Medicine

Chad Terhune,Keith Epstein andCatherine Arnst | Bloomberg Businessweek | April 22, 2009

GE, Google, and others, in a stimulus-fueled frenzy, are piling into the business. But electronic health records have a dubious history Read More »

The Effect Of For-Profit Laboratories On The Accountability, Integration, And Cost Of Canadian Health Care Services

Ross Sutherland | Open Medicine | December 17, 2012

Using for-profit laboratories increases the cost of diagnostic testing and hinders the integration of health care services more generally. Two useful steps toward ending the for-profit provision of laboratory services would be to stop fee-for-service funding and to integrate all laboratory work within public administrative structures.
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The Elusive Quest To Transform Healthcare Through Patient Empowerment

Andy Oram | O'Reilly Strata | May 23, 2013

Would you take a morning off from work to discuss health care costs and consumer empowerment in health care? Over a hundred people in the Boston area did so on Monday, May 6, for the conference “Empowering Healthcare Consumers... Read More »

The Gary And Mary West Foundation And West Health Institute Create New Center For Medical Interoperability To Improve Patient Safety And Lower Costs Of Health Care

Press Release | West Health Institute (WHI), The Gary and Mary West Foundation (GMWF) | September 18, 2013

The Gary and Mary West Foundation has provided initial grant funding to the Center for Medical Interoperability, Inc. The Center, a newly formed, independent nonprofit organization, will be led by hospitals and health systems to drive rapid, widespread and sustained interoperability of medical technology to improve patient safety and lower health care costs. [...] Read More »

The Last Battle: Efforts To Provide Mental Health Care For War Veterans Falling Short

Greg Barnes and John Ramsey | FayObserver.com | September 26, 2012

The last battle of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is being fought at home. And in 2012, the military and the VA have done more than ever to respond to the anguish of men and women who are haunted by war...But there is little evidence that the tide has turned in the battle. Read More »