Stakeholder interest, regulation are signs that medical apps are here to stay (Best of MedCitizens)

Every week, MedCity News highlights the best of its MedCitizens: syndication partners and MedCity News readers who discuss life science current events on MedCity News.

Five signs the medical apps industry is maturing. “Critical stakeholders like payers and the pharmaceutical industry are realizing the potential for medical apps. They know that this is where their customers and users are. They realize that the usual customer service business model is neither as effective nor cost-effective as an app is. The data which can be mined from apps is more direct, accurate, and valuable than traditional methods.”

Medicare to penalize 2,211 hospitals for excess readmissions. “Together, these hospitals will forfeit about $280 million in Medicare funds over the next year as the government begins a wide-ranging push to start paying health care providers based on the quality of care they provide.”

A breakdown of Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan. “Ryan would gradually raise the eligibility age of Medicare from 65 to 67 by 2034, and cap its spending increases at half a percentage point higher than the growth rate of the economy, or the gross domestic product. Ryan’s plan would provide a set amount of money annually for future Medicare beneficiaries – those currently under age 55 – to be used to purchase either a private health plan, or the traditional government-administered program through a newly created Medicare exchange.”

Is the physician private practice being targeted by design? “I am queried periodically by patients asking how much I charge for a colonoscopy. Of course, every physician recognizes that this question is not phrased properly. It doesn’t matter what we charge; it’s what an insurance company determines we will be paid. I might believe that your colonoscopy was worth a thousand bucks, but those who pay the bill have a different sense of its value. Many ordinary folks think that we doctors can simply raise our prices to enrich ourselves. Physicians cannot do this.”

A refresher course on Paul Ryan, Medicare and the GOP VP’s plans for healthcare. “Ryan’s interest in restructuring the health insurance program for the elderly and disabled goes back to at least 2010, when he co-authored a proposal for restraining the costs of Medicare and Medicaid with former Clinton OMB director Alice Rivlin. Kaiser Health News has extensive coverage of Ryan’s proposals for Medicare – and of competing proposals – a sample of which you will find below.”

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