Month: December 2015

Recon takes an analytical look behind select developments in healthcare

Emails substituting for visits: Evidence points to “yes” but providers need to answer a lot of emails to replace a single visit

Tory Wolff December 30, 2015

Earlier this month, researchers released a study of patient-initiated emails to providers with Northern California Kaiser Permanente (KPNC) in 2011/12 in the JAMC . The study focused on patients with one or more chronic condition (CDC data indicates this would be about 50% of an average population) but otherwise sought a mix of conditions, benefit designs and demographics among its participants. Respondents were asked about their use of email in the previous 12 months. The study found substantial patient initiation of email contacts: Of the 71% in the sample with

Maxwell Health and Agile Healthcare Strategy

Alex Brown December 11, 2015

Maxwell Health LLC is a rapidly growing company that offers a platform to make it easy and intuitive for employees to manage their employer-sponsored benefits. It is at the intersection of several major macro trends currently transforming the Healthcare industry: As a marketplace for employee benefits, it is near the center of a shifting US regulatory landscape for individual and small group insurance exchanges As a “Software as a Service” (SaaS) platform it is a poster child for the growing use of clever software to deliver intuitive, efficient and quality

Ohio’s Mercy-Summa alliance grows contracting teeth

Tory Wolff December 7, 2015

Mercy Health – the largest system in Ohio – has recently formed a Clinically Integrated Network (CIN) with Summa Health called Advanced Health Select. CINs allow separately owned provider systems to jointly contract with payers on a risk basis as well as invest in clinical systems to support consistent practice and joint accountability. The model offers some key advantages of affiliation (joint economics and investment) without the regulatory hurdles, governance challenges and business risks change of control usually entails. Mercy and Summa had two prior business relationships: First, Mercy holds

NEJM Highlights November 2015: systems biology, RSV progress, a first in diabetes, hypertension goals, the case of Maryland

Marc Herant December 1, 2015

Systems biology finally gets real: an unexpected use for a diabetes drug Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) has been the poster child first for a disease with a precise genetic cause (the Philadelphia chromosome), and then for targeted drug design (with imatinib – Gleevec). Unfortunately, few patients achieve a complete response to therapy which means that they have to stay on drug indefinitely. This commentary highlights recent research which shows that pioglitazone (Actos), an approved diabetes drug that activates a specific cellular pathway (STAT5) can synergistically enhance treatment with Gleevec to

Month: December 2015

Recon takes an analytical look behind select developments in healthcare

Emails substituting for visits: Evidence points to “yes” but providers need to answer a lot of emails to replace a single visit

Maxwell Health and Agile Healthcare Strategy

Ohio’s Mercy-Summa alliance grows contracting teeth

NEJM Highlights November 2015: systems biology, RSV progress, a first in diabetes, hypertension goals, the case of Maryland

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