Survey: Per-employee Healthcare Costs Expected to Increase 4.1% in 2019

Fiercehealthcare.com– Costs in employer health benefit plans are projected to increase by 4.1% in 2019, according to early datafrom the Mercer National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans. The increase is on par with this year’s growth of 4.2% and generally in line with the low single-digit increases employers have seen over the past decade.

Globally, losing the fight against cancer and other chronic diseases

CNN.com – More than half of all UN countries will fail to honor their commitment to reduce premature deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes by 2030, a new analysis predicts.

Fewer U.S. adults getting unnecessary knew surgery

UK.reuters.com – So-called arthroscopic knee surgery is becoming a less common treatment for adults with torn cartilage or painful arthritis as a growing body of evidence shows little benefit from these operations, a U.S. study suggests.

Looking for Accurate Hospital Quality Measures? Might want to steer away from Yelp

Fiercehealthcare.com-Crowdsourced hospital ratings from sites like Yelp can provide patients with insights on the care experience, but fall short on effectively ranking quality, according to a new study. Researchers at Indiana University compared crowdsourced rankings from Facebook, Google and Yelp to data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Hospital Compare site and found that the two data sets often aligned on patient experience.

Fewer Americans Without Health Insurance Since Obamacare Debut

ThinkAdvisor.com– Fewer Americans lack health insurance — but the gap remains wide, especially in some pro-Trump states. The number of uninsured declined to 28.3 million in the first quarter, down from 29.3 last year — and 48.6 million in 2010, the year the Affordable Care Act was signed into law by then-President Barack Obama, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.