More evidence of the economy's effect on healthcare spending emerged in recent weeks to paint a grim picture for access to medical care during a downturn. Now federal health officials have released an analysis that underscores the close link between employment and the wherewithal to get needed treatment or prescriptions.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey found half the unemployed were uninsured compared with one-fifth of those in the workforce in 2009—the year the recession officially ended—and the following year.
Read more »
Permalink | Post a Comment
Incentives tied to performance on healthcare quality and cost largely failed to save Medicare money, based on the Congressional Budget Office analysis of federal efforts to reform U.S. health spending.
Read more »
Permalink | Post a Comment
The Mayo Clinic stopped accepting Medicare at its five-physician practice in Glendale, Ariz., two years ago. Officials said at the time they would analyze financial results of the move early this year.
No results yet. Mayo spokesman James McVeigh said in an e-mail: “Our plan is to continue to study the program, collect data and review the impact on our patients.”
Read more »
Permalink | Post a Comment
A yearly look at U.S. health spending, released last week, underscored a worrying drop in household medical spending that accompanied the economic downturn.
“Although medical goods and services are generally viewed as necessities, the latest recession had a dramatic affect on their utilization,” wrote the federal economists and statisticians who compiled the latest snapshot.
The amount of medical care provided—how often people seek care or the intensity of the medical care they receive—made up just 0.1% of the 3.7% increase of the health spending growth in 2010, the federal figures show. Rising prices accounted for most of the gain (2.7%). Population changes accounted for the rest.
My colleague Jessica Zigmond reports this week in greater depth on the latest numbers and noted that sluggish healthcare spending was nonetheless double the rate of general inflation in 2010.
Here's a look at the drivers of health spending growth for the last decade:
Source: National Health Statistics Group CMS Office of the Actuary
Hospital spending growth cooled to 4.9% to total $814 billion in 2010. Here's a look at the role that price and use (and population) played in hospital spending growth during the last decade:
Source: National Health Statistics Group CMS Office of the Actuary
Read more »
Permalink | Post a Comment
The past few weeks saw Pittsburgh's healthcare market creating yet more news. West Penn Allegheny released financial statements that reported the health system lost $51.8 million on operations. A federal judge also ordered the health system to release terms of its deal to be acquired by insurer Highmark.
Maybe you can't keep the legal battles, accusations and deal-making straight as major healthcare players in Pittsburgh fight it out. You are not alone.
Here's a visual that should underscore just how convoluted Pittsburgh's healthcare market has become as three major players battle for market share. (Scroll over the lines between the players for information). The information is based on Modern Healthcare reporting.
Read more »
Permalink | Post a Comment
The American Hospital Association released its yearly look at what hospitals do not get paid. The aggregate amount for nearly 5,000 hospitals was $39.3 billion. But what about hospitals that spend the least? What about those that spend the most? Or how about hospitals at the median?
The trade group reported unpaid medical bills, in aggregate, totaled 5.8% of hospital expenses. The association's data included costs reported by 4,985 hospitals for the year 2010.
Read more »
Permalink | Post a Comment
Editor's note: Guest blogger Joe Carlson is writing today's Of Interest post.
Hospitals with a higher proportion of Medicare revenue in 2009 tended to have lower overall profit margins, a new analysis of hundreds of hospital tax forms shows. But does that mean that Medicare's low rates are responsible for the lower profitability?
Read more »
Permalink | Post a Comment
