The risk of a major complication of childbirth can be up to five times higher at one hospital versus another, a new study finds. But there's no way expectant mothers can tell the high-risk hospitals from the low — at least, not yet. A study in this month's Health Affairs is the first ever to examine hospitals' childbirth complication rates on a national basis. Authors looked at a representative sample of more than 750,000 deliveries that took place in 2010 at hospitals large and small, urban and rural, including both teaching and community institutions. Major complications include hemorrhaging, infections, vaginal lacerations and blood clots. Unlike major complications from, say, cardiac surgery, these obstetrical glitches are not generally life-threatening.
Keeping costs in check are as important as ever for Greater Cincinnati health systems. That doesn't mean wallets aren't open in efforts to align businesses for the ever-shifting health care landscape. The region's health systems are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new research buildings, emergency rooms and outpatient facilities to serve patients and remain competitive with their peers. "We are doing everything we can to make sure our projects are the right project at the right time delivered at the right costs," said Maura Moran-Berry, an assistant vice president at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
As healthcare costs increase, so does the need to implement clinical analytics further. But collecting data that reflects a person's well-being is a challenge, especially for chronically ill patients. As of 2009, more than 75% of healthcare costs are linked to chronic conditions, and nearly half of all adults live with at least one chronic illness. Chronic illnesses evolve over time, but until recently, the only way to grasp the bigger picture has been through patient-reported outcomes and bits of data spaced over long periods of time. When I see my primary care physician, I see her for 20 minutes.
The nation's second-biggest health insurer, Wellpoint, said Tuesday that it will change its name to Anthem Inc., the brand associated with most of the company's best known health plans. CEO Joseph Swedish says in a statement: "We believe it is important to call ourselves by the name that people know best — Anthem." The name change comes as consumers increasingly shop for their own health benefits, in part due to the health care overhaul. The Indianapolis-based company operates plans in 14 states and primarily does business as Anthem Blue Cross and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
The founders of Collective Health, a Silicon Valley startup, say they can help employers save money by self-insuring rather than paying premiums to a health insurance company. Collective Health has developed software to help companies pay workers' health costs directly. Collective Health describes its "sweet spot" as companies with a few hundred or a few thousand employees, typically in the tech sector."Insurance providers make money by overpricing risk and underpaying care," said Collective Health's Chief Executive Officer Ali Diab, whose previous company AdMob was acquired by Google Inc.
Premiums on ObamaCare's health insurance exchanges will rise by an average of 7.5 percent next year, according to a new analysis. Data compiled by the Health Research Institute (HRI) at Pricewaterhouse
Coopers found modest changes in premiums for 27 states and the District of Columbia, with the increases mostly falling short of dire predictions for ObamaCare's second year. The average national increase of 7.5 percent is "well below the double-digit increases many feared," HRI Managing Director Ceci Connolly wrote in an email. The highest proposed rate increase so far came in Nevada, where consumers with Time Insurance Co. might see their insurance premiums rise by 36 percent.