A total of 15.5 million Americans had major medical coverage

... in the individual insurance market as of December 31, 2014, a 46% increase during the first year that plans could be purchased through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces, according to a recent analysis.

Source: "Data Note: How Has the Individual Insurance Market Grown Under the Affordable Care Act?," The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, April 29, 2015, http://kff.org/private-insurance/issue-brief/data-note-how-has-the-individual-insurance-market-grown-under-the-affordable-care-act/

5 Interventions to Reduce Hospital Readmissions

1.    Meticulous attention to infection prevention practices

2.    Judicious use of indwelling catheters, sedation, and antimicrobials

3.    Efforts to promote good nutrition, sleep hygiene, and mobility during hospitalization

4.    Careful education of patient and caregivers about medications, prevention, and early recognition of infections

5.    Facilitation of communication among patients, their caregivers, and the inpatient and outpatient clinicians

Source: Medscape, April 23, 2015

The Honor Roll of Best Children's Hospitals 2014-15

1.    Boston Children’s Hospital/ Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (tied)

2.    Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

3.    Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston

4.    Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

5.    Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora

6.    Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio

7.    Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

8.    Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

9.    Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Baltimore

Source: The Boston Globe

Physician Specialty, Gender, and Self-Employment Affect Pay

Here are some key findings from the recently-released annual Medscape Physician Compensation Report:

• Average annual income for PCPs is $195,000, compared to $284,000 for specialists.
• The highest-income specialties are orthopedics ($421k), cardiology ($376k), and gastroenterology ($370k).
• Male physicians earn more ($284,000) than their female counterparts ($215,000).
• Men tend to dominate high-paying specialties: urology (92%), orthopedics (91%), and cardiology (88%).
• Self-employed PCPs earn $212,000 compared with their employed counterparts ($189,000).
• Self-employed specialists, on average, earn $329,000 compared to employed specialists ($258,000).

Source: WebMD Health Corp., April 21, 2015

According to a recent survey:

• Just 13% of Americans say that they saw quality information comparing hospitals in the last year
• 10% of Americans say they saw quality information comparing doctors in the last year
• Only 4% those who saw quality information for hospitals said they used it
• Only 6% of those who saw quality information about doctors said they used it
• Only 6% said they saw comparative price information for hospitals or doctors in the past year, and 3% say they used that information

Source: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: April 2015, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundatoin, April 21, 2015, http://kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-april-2015/

According to a recent survey,

76% of Americans said that a top health care priority is ensuring affordability of high-cost drugs for those with chronic conditions such as hepatitis, and 60% said that government action to reduce prescription drug prices should be a top priority.

Source: "Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: April 2015," The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, April 10, 2015, http://kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-april-2015/

Controlled substance abuse

During the past decade, drug overdose deaths have more than doubled and over 50 percent were related to prescription drugs. Increases in controlled substance prescribing have coincided with higher rates of misuse, abuse, hospitalizations and deaths. Right now, opioids cause more overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.


healthexecwire.com