Hospitals, Testing Companies Face Questions About Value Of Community Screenings

According to Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post, hospitals hoping to attract patients and build their brands are teaming up with medical-screening companies to promote tests aimed at consumers worried about potentially deadly heart disease or strokes.

What their promotions don't say is that an influential government panel recommends against using many of the tests on people without symptoms or risk factors. The panel says such screenings find too few problems to outweigh their drawbacks, which include false positive results, follow-up procedures and potentially unnecessary surgery. Other medical experts warn that the tests could needlessly raise health-care spending.

Inova Health System, one of the Washington, D.C., region’s largest hospital networks, is partnering with a screening company called HealthFair to blanket the region with direct mail and advertisements promoting a $139 package of what it describes as “five life-saving tests for heart disease and stroke.” The tests, which usually are not covered by insurance, are performed in specially equipped buses, operated by HealthFair, that carry the Inova logo and travel to different locations.

Such screenings can not only can raise health care costs, but also can lead to additional testing and procedures that could be harmful. But Inova and other hospitals say the screenings help raise awareness of heart disease and stroke and spur important discussions between patients and their doctors. Consultants say they are also a way to create community good will and draw new patients and revenue.

New study finds doctor rating websites concern physicians

According to a July 2 article written by Kaiser Health News in The Washington Post, the growth of physician rating websites is of increasing concern among doctors.

Many physicians have criticized doctor rating sites that allow patients to provide feedback anonymously. They argue that such sites do not offer accountability or a way for physicians to defend themselves.

Consumer Reports recently ventured into physician rating territory in Massachusetts. The ratings, published as an insert in the July issue for the magazine’s Massachusetts subscribers and available online as well, put 487 primary-care and pediatric practices through their paces, assigning scores.

The article notes, "Rating sites of any sort help consumers take a more active role in managing their health and making health care choices, say experts. And that’s important, whether the information comes from a scientifically valid survey or an anonymous online review."

New HCCI Study: Higher prices for care may be driving health care costs ‎

A new study from the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonpartisan research group funded by insurers, found that costs rose 3.3 percent in 2010 even though people actually used fewer services in many categories. The report notes that spending grew not as a result of a lot of unnecessary procedures and treatments but because the services themselves were more expensive

Higher prices charged by hospitals, outpatient centers and other providers drove up health care spending at double the rate of inflation, Prices declined in only one category: nursing home care, which saw a 3.2 percent drop in the cost per admission. One of the areas with the fastest growing spending was children's medical care.

Coverage and commentary on this research can be found in a number of places today including articles from Julie Appleby in Kaiser Health News and Lester Feder in Politico.

Calif. Hospital Report Cards Likely To Go Away

On the Cal Hospital Compare website, conscientious consumers in California can look up scorecards for their local hospitals. How well does the hospital control infections? How often do patients die from complications that can be treated? How satisfied are most patients with their experience? Read the full article...

Study: Employers Could Dump Sickest Employees On Public Health Care

Carolyn Pare, president of the Minnesota Buyers Health Care Action Group, doubts that large employers would engage in what the professors termed "target dumping" of their sicker workers.

Pare represents about 40 businesses; about half are large employers based in the Twin Cities, such as 3M, General Mills, and Medtronic.

She said companies must balance their financial bottom lines against the cost of harming their reputations. And from a public relations perspective, dumping workers is a bad idea.

"I don't see the financial benefit to just dumping your sicker patients into a public program or a health insurance exchange," Pare said. "And I really don't see the savings as great enough to incent them to do that." Read the full article...

The Specifics: How Obama Plans To Cut Health Programs By $320 Billion

In his plan to trim the federal deficit, President Barack Obama Monday proposed $320 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, largely by changing how the federal government pays health providers, slashing payments to drug companies, and dramatically changing the way it splits the costs of Medicaid with the states, according to a fact sheet the White House released. Read the full article...