All Articles In 'Tag Archives: 'Health Care Spending''

Health Care Spending and Hypertension: The Cost of High Blood Pressure

Health Care Spending and Hypertension: The Cost of High Blood Pressure

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is related to several major chronic diseases. Obesity and diabetes raise your chance of developing high blood pressure, which in turn makes you more likely to suffer from heart disease and [...]

Medicare Hospital Payment: MedPAC Recommends One Percent Rate Increase for FY 2014

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.  [...]

Health Care Costs: Slowdown in Growth is Because of Economy, Not Obamacare

Health Care Costs: Slowdown in Growth is Because of Economy, Not Obamacare

Growth in health care spending has slowed recently.  Why?  Supporters of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – aka Obamacare – says its due to the controversial law, although most of the ACA’s provisions are yet to [...]

Medicare and Medicaid Spending on Dual Eligible Populations: Analysis of Health Costs

Medicare and Medicaid Spending on Dual Eligible Populations: Analysis of Health Costs

Much of the story about rising health costs and spending has to do with relatively small groups of people with expensive health needs. For example, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimates Medicare beneficiaries [...]

Medicare Physician Sustainable Growth Rate: Repealing SGR

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

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 [...]

Impact of ACA on Employer-Sponsored Insurance: Costs, Taxes, and Enrollment Effects

Impact of ACA on Employer-Sponsored Insurance: Costs, Taxes, and Enrollment Effects

Employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) has been central to the U.S. health care system. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) adds many requirements and imposes many costs on employers that could change how – and if – they offer [...]

Chronic Care Management: CMS Multiple Chronic Conditions Dashboard

Chronic Care Management: CMS Multiple Chronic Conditions Dashboard

Many new care models in both the public and private sector focus on people with chronic diseases, particularly conditions like diabetes, congestive heart failure, and hypertension. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Care Coordination/Home Telehealth (CCHT) pilot program [...]

Impact of ACA on Health Premiums and Enrollment: Society of Actuaries Estimates of Health Reform Law

Impact of ACA on Health Premiums and Enrollment: Society of Actuaries Estimates of Health Reform Law

Love it or hate it, the Affordable Care Act is unprecedented in size, scope, complexity, and uncertainty.  To project its impact, numerous policy, economic, competitive, and behavioral factors must be considered and assumptions made.  From an [...]

Women’s Health Spending: Expenditures on Common Conditions for Young Women

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 [...]