MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'healthcare cost'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:32:36 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4419136&cid=t_190701_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fthe-hot-spotters-is-better-care-for-the-neediest-patients-the-answer-to-lower-healthcare-costs%2F2011.01.31 Author-physician Dr. Atul Gawande has done it again with a well-written article in The New Yorker magazine entitled, “The Hot Spotters.” It deals with the fact that 5 percent of people with chronic illness make up over 50 percent of all healthcare costs. If we can zero in on providing better preventive care for those people, we can finally get our arms around runaway healthcare costs. How great that you don’t even have to have a New Yorker subscription to read it. Here are a few cliff notes until you get to it: – In Camden, New Jersey, one percent of patients account for one-third of the city’s medical costs. By just focusing attention on the social and medical outpatient needs of those people, they not only got healthier but costs were cut in half. &#8... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4419136 Mon, 31 Jan 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4419136 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4233186&cid=t_190701_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fgetting-quality-and-profit-out-of-medicine%2F2010.12.06 Looking for a great story about the state of hospital care in America? Look no further. The Health Care Blog has a great article by hospitalist Dr. Robert Wachter that sums it up nicely. It’s about money. Thats how hospitals get paid. That’s how everyone gets paid. It will always be about money. We don’t pay doctors, nurses, or administrators with smiley faces and candy canes. We pay them with cold hard cash. For example: One of the physicians, an invasive cardiologist, stopped me in my tracks. “Actually, our hospital already provides a tremendous amount of support and feedback,” he said. “When I perform a catheterization or angioplasty, a hospital staff member watches the entire procedure, she sometimes suggests mid-course corrections, and as soon as I’m do... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4233186 Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:00:00 +0100 4233186 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4214113&cid=t_190701_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fbend-the-healthcare-cost-curve-by-preventing-diabetes%2F2010.11.29 By 2020, an estimated 15 percent of adults will have diabetes and 37 percent will have prediabetes, a total of 39 million people, compared with rates of 12 percent and 28 percent today, respectively. Today, more than 90 percent of people with prediabetes, and about a quarter of people with diabetes, are unaware of it, according to a report from UnitedHealth Group, the provider of insurance and other health care services. The health savings alone of preventing diabetes would bend the cost curve of health care spending in the country. Health spending associated with diabetes and prediabetes is about $194 billion this year, or 7 percent of U.S. health spending, the report said. That cost is projected to rise to $500 billion by 2020, or a total of almost $3.4 trillion on diabetes-related... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4214113 Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:00:00 +0100 4214113 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4023039&cid=t_190701_129_f&fid=36038&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Ftrevis-life-with-multiple-sclerosis-ms%2Fthe-high-price-of-the-new-ms-pill%2F I’ve read and quoted figures for annual economic impact of multiple sclerosis at around $50,000-$75,000 per patient. Those numbers are HUGE, and some may not understand the term “economic impact.” It’s not necessarily out-of-pocket expenses each of of us has to pay. It refers, rather, to the cumulative cost of missed work time, insurance rate hikes, travel expenses to and from doctors’ appointments, lost pay raises and unoffered job advancements and the like – plus the out-of-pocket stuff. That is why there is such a broad range in those figures – loads of variables. One variable is obviously how much a drug costs us. The price we each pay for our disease-modifying MS therapies is loaded with variables. Included in such variables would be the “quality” of insurance covera... Life with MS blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4023039 Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:38:58 +0100 4023039 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3911698&cid=t_190701_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fnations-largest-tele-health-network-launched%2F2010.08.27 California launched the nation’s largest tele-health network, a $30 million public/private project to bring broadband access designed to reduce the cost of followup care by 40 percent and overall costs by 6 percent. The network seeks to connect more than 800 California healthcare facilities, including rural, underserved, and Indian health facilities, to a statewide network of healthcare and emergency services. (Healthcare IT News) *This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist* (Source: Better Health) Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3911698 Fri, 27 Aug 2010 22:00:00 +0100 3911698 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3812974&cid=t_190701_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fa-doctors-guilt-about-healthcare-costs%2F2010.08.02 Times are tight and we’re all looking to save money, be it our own or someone else’s. Many will say that when it comes to the skyrocketing costs of healthcare, doctors are responsible for part of the problem. Doctors order too many tests, either to cover ourselves in the event of a malpractice suit, or because patients pressure us, or because we genuinely believe that the tests are necessary for patient care, but in many circumstances, a cheaper option is available. We order medications that are expensive when cheaper medications are available. And psychiatrists offer care — like psychotherapy — that could be done by clinicians who are cheaper to educate and willing to work for less money. (more…) *This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3812974 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:00:00 +0100 3812974 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1575345&cid=t_190701_125_f&fid=34820&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dentalblogs.com%2Farchives%2Fadministrator%2Fspreading-goodwill-strong-smiles-across-america%2F What better way to ring off the Fourth of July weekend than with news about some of the great volunteers and philanthropic efforts in the dental field over the past week? These are just a sampling of the many news stories that often get overlooked for more exciting events. Think about what America could be like if every dental professional spent just one our each week volunteering dental services to those who can’t afford rising healthcare costs! Volunteer Dentists Treat More than 1100 in Two-Day Event Free Dental Clinic in West Virginia Serves More than 700 Tallahassee Pros Trained to Give Free Dental Care to Kids Mobile Dental Clinic Ministers in Grifton Dell Foundation Awards 2008 ‘Healthy Community’ Grants to 27 Non … (Source: dental blog for dentists about dentist... dental blog for dentists about dentistry blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1575345 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:55:13 +0100 1575345 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1446172&cid=t_190701_134_f&fid=35152&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsstrumello.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F05%2Fbeyond-medco-headline.html Companies report things every day, but when Medco Health Solutions Inc. (the nation's largest pharmacy benefits manager, a.k.a. as a "PBM"), rivals Express Scripts, Inc. or CVS/Caremark Inc., or lab companies Quest Diagnostics or LabCorp issues a report, we know that they have mountains of data to back their claims, so their results are usually indicative of the nation's health as a whole -- one reason I'm more likely to rely on them for reliable information rather than the results from a small, tightly-controlled study with a shocking headline.For example, in 2006, Quest Diagnostics issued a Health Trends™ Diabetes Report which showed that people with diabetes who visit health professionals regularly were actually doing a better job of managing their disease (albiet only slightly better... Scott's Web Log blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1446172 Fri, 16 May 2008 14:00:00 +0100 1446172 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1218501&cid=t_190701_107_f&fid=36585&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FHighlightHEALTH%2F%7E3%2F231657115%2F This article was published on Highlight HEALTH. Related articlesThe Best of Highlight HEALTH 2007 - The Year in ReviewThe Highlight HEALTH NetworkAmerican Obesity Rate Levels OffSocial Networks and Health - The Research and the ReviewsQuitWinLive - The Great American Smokeout (Source: Highlight HEALTH) Highlight HEALTH blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1218501 Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:08:29 +0100 1218501