Mary Mosquera
Financial firms will build investment pieces around companies that develop solutions for transparency, outcomes, prices and care coordination, the macro themes around health reform.
Spending on U.S. medicines fell 3.5 percent on a real per capita basis in 2012, driven in large part by greater availability of generics and lower price increases. In addition, the use of healthcare services overall declined for the second consecutive year, according to a study released last Thursday by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.
Increasing healthcare cost sharing does little to reduce overall healthcare costs or make it more efficient, according to a report released Wednesday by the Economic Policy Institute. But shifting the burden to patients puts an excessive load on those who may need care the most and can least afford it.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) withdrew on Tuesday his hold that has blocked the nomination of Marilyn Tavenner as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, allowing a Senate vote to proceed.
An analysis from HealthPocket raises the specter that individuals who obtain health coverage under Medicaid starting in 2014 will have to dig to find a clinician who will treat them.
U.S. medical schools are on track to increase their enrollment 30 percent by 2017, according to results of the annual Medical School Enrollment Survey conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Center for Workforce Studies, released Thursday.
Health systems foresee a major shift this year from inpatient admissions to treatment in outpatient settings as they overhaul care delivery models to meet healthcare reform changes, according to the Premier healthcare alliance.
The outlook for the global pharmaceutical industry will remain stable over the next 12 to 18 months with the expectation that the sector will return to earnings growth in 2013, according to Moody's Investor Service.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed late Friday its fiscal 2014 Medicare payment schedule. Included in the proposal are payment cuts to hospitals that treat uninsured individuals and slightly higher rates for acute care and long-term care hospitals. The proposal also prepares the groundwork for a program that imposes a penalty on facilities that lag on reducing the frequency of hospital-acquired conditions.
Healthcare mergers and acquisitions (M&A) plummeted in the first quarter of 2013 compared both with the previous quarter and the year-ago period, according to a report released Thursday by Irving Levin Associates. Inc., which publishes M&A data.