health affairs news from FierceHealthcare

Of late, health plans and employers have been rolling out pay-for-performance programs aggressively, on the assumption that such programs offer a helpful method for improving healthcare quality. In Read more...

While some continue to encourage more use of CDHPs, a recent study suggests that they may have a significant downside. This is important data given that the number of large companies offering a CDHP Read more...

Doctors who treat minorities tend to face a unique set of quality and financial challenges, according to a new study appearing in Health Affairs. The researchers, who used data from the 2004-05 Read more...

This isn't too surprising, but it's not something policymakers will like, either. A new study of referral patterns in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metros suggests that physicians who are Read more...

A new study published in Health Affairs suggests that some physicians may be dodging Stark regulations when billing for advanced imaging services. The study, which used data from an unnamed California insurer, found that 33 percent of providers who billed for MRIs, 22 percent of those billing for CT scans and 17 percent of those who billed for PET scans could be classed as self-referrals. These physicians are avoiding the appearance of conflict by leasing or …

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Some say that if outside researchers had access to drug safety data, disasters like the Vioxx scandal might have been avoided. At present, however, the FDA doesn't let outsiders see clinical trial data unless forced to do so. This secrecy can only do harm, suggests a new commentary in Health Affairs. Report

While they agree that pay for performance approaches can improve care, about three-quarters of primary care physicians worry that public data reporting would have a negative impact on patient relationships, according to a new study published this month in Health Affairs. The research, which involved a survey of 550 randomly chosen general internists, concluded that physicians weren't satisfied that P4P schemes would measure the right factors in the right way. While most PCPs felt …

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According to a new report, Medicaid's future may be better than previously thought. The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has concluded that projected growth in government revenues should support Medicaid spending for at least 40 years. This is, in part, because the program's share of national health expenditures isn't expected to grow dramatically. As of 2005, Medicaid was 16.5 percent of national health expenditures, but should only climb 2.5 percent, to 19 percent, by …

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Consumers may not be thrilled with this approach, which might feel to them as though their freedom has been compromised. Still, it looks as if higher co-pays may steer them away from treatments researchers consider to be less useful. In a paper appearing this week in Health Affairs, Harvard University health policy professor Michael Chernew outlines a strategy by which insurance companies can save money--while improving care--if they raise co-pays for procedures or treatments that …

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Electronic health records (EHRs) certainly do help improve the quality of care at community health centers, but do not necessarily provide any financial benefits, a new study says. Writing in the January/February issue of Health Affairs, University of California, San Francisco, researchers Robert H. Miller and Chris West find that quality improvements from performance reports and point-of-care clinical reminders can be substantial, but of the six centers that participated in the …

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