All Articles In 'Hospitals'
Medicare Hospital Payment: MedPAC Recommends One Percent Rate Increase for FY 2014
Hospitals face another year of tight Medicare reimbursement, with rates for FY 2014 falling farther behind cost increases and margins declining as a result. Most hospitals already lose money on caring for Medicare and Medicaid patients. [...]
Medicare Physician Sustainable Growth Rate: Repealing SGR
For over a decade, the sustainable growth rate (SGR) has been a source of financial worry for physicians who serve Medicare patients. Medicare’s physician payment rate is based on a composite measure of the cost of [...]
Medicare Payment Reform: Post-Acute Provider Reimbursement
The term “post-acute care” (PAC) covers a range of services patients receive after a hospital stay. Skilled nursing facilities, home health care agencies, long-term care hospitals, and inpatient rehabilitation hospitals all provide post-acute care. PAC providers [...]
Dual Eligibles and Medicare Cost Sharing: State Medicaid Payment of Medicare Premiums, Deductibles, and Co-Payments
State Medicaid programs will spend about $175 billion this year on health care for dual eligibles – low-income seniors and persons with disabilities who receive benefits from both Medicare and Medicaid. State spending on dual eligibles [...]
Women’s Health Spending: Expenditures on Common Conditions for Young Women
One of the most talked-about aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is how it will affect women’s health care. The biggest After 2014, health plans will no longer be allowed to charge different premiums based [...]
Medicaid Expansion and Hospitals: Hospital Medicaid Revenue to Outpace Crowd-Out Losses
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) created a trade-off for providers, particularly hospitals: On the one hand, Medicare fee-for-service hospital payments will be cut by $260 billion over 10 years. Some people newly eligible for Medicaid will [...]
Patient Engagement to Lower Health Costs and Improve Outcomes
It’s not uncommon for a patient to be confused or overwhelmed by a diagnosis or treatment plan. Complicated medical procedures or decisions can overwhelm patients to the point that they feel that they cannot, or should [...]
Chronic Care Management: Technologies to Better Manage Chronic Conditions
The nation’s largest health care buyers – Medicare, state Medicaid programs, large employers, and health plans – are eager for ways to improve the quality and efficiency of chronic health conditions, which drive the bulk of [...]
Hospital Admissions: Trends in Hospital Utilization
Hospital admissions and readmissions are a hot topic in the healthcare community. Reducing hospital utilization can result in a leaner, more efficient system with lower costs and greater health outcomes. The opportunities to save money and [...]
Four Payment Reform Models of Keen Interest to Large Employers
While the Affordable Care Act is expected to shift more of health coverage from the private employers to taxpayers, the most common source of health insurance for Americans is still though an employer or the employer [...]
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