Making news and waves in health care

GeekWire, Monica Nickelsburg It was also a good year for health-focused companies. Portland-based HealthSparq, a healthcare software company, is No. 6 in the Northwest (No. 196 overall). See the complete list of NW companies who made the Inc 5000.

Portland Business Journal, Scott Decker From The New York Times, to health insurers, to employers and health care IT companies, a common question keeps nagging at the industry: How do we improve patient adoption of health technology that can improve care and save people money? Read more…

Portland Business Journal, Andy Giegerich and Brandon Sawyer Nearly 1,000 business leaders converged on the Oregon Convention Center Thursday night for the beach-themed, and thus suitably festive, Oregon Fastest-Growing Companies event, hosted by the Portland Business Journal. HealthSparq ranked fourth with a 534.4% revenue growth between 2013-2015. See the top 100 list here…

Houston Chronicle via via Midland Reporter-Telegram, Chris Tomlinson Insurance companies and employers want you to ration your health care. For leverage, they have increased annual out-of-pocket costs by almost 230 percent between 2006 and 2015, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health care research organization. Offering lower premiums in exchange for consumers paying a higher deductible is the...

Houston Chronicle, Chris Tomlinson Insurance companies and employers want you to ration your health care. Read more…

Electronic Health Reporter, Guest Post by Torben Nielsen The past few years have seen record investments in digital health. More than $12 billion have been poured into digital health companies in 2014 and 2015 alone, according to Rock Health, and there’s no indication of any slowing in 2016. Here are my predictions for what’s in store for health care in...

GoLocalPDX, GoLocalPDX Business Team The best companies accomplish two things: they generate plenty of profit and they provide a necessary and useful service to its customers and the community at large. Portland’s Healthsparq reaches and surpasses both of those goals, helping to earn them the title of GoLocalPDX’s Portland company of the year. Read more…

Wiley Only Library, Bryn Nelson, PhD Trux Dole is fond of detailing how the health care services company he works for, HealthSparq Inc in Portland, Oregon, is aiming to dramatically improve the transparency of health care information available to insurance plan beneficiaries. However, the health plan spinoff, independent since 2012, is more than just a business venture. During his son...