Why don’t patients care about quality?

For nursing homes at least, patients do not seem to have much choice.  According to an article by Grabowski and Town: The introduction of the NHQI was generally unrelated to facility quality and consumer demand. However, nursing homes facing greater competition improved their quality more than facilities in less competitive markets…The lack of competition in…

Grand Rounds Submission Instructions

I will be hosting Grand Rounds on Tuesday, October 11.  If you wish to participate, please follow these instructions. Submit your post by 11:59pm ET on Sunday. Send the post to: jason@healthcare-economist.com Include the following in your email: your name, your blog’s name, the title of your blog post, a brief, 1-2 sentence summary, and…

Medicare & Medicaid Statistical Supplement

CMS has a wealth of publicly available summary statistics regarding enrollment, spending, treatment patterns, cost sharing and other topics for both Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.  This information can be accessed through the Medicare & Medicaid Statistical Supplement website.  The site includes statistics on the following topics: Personal Health Care Expenditures Medicare Enrollment Medicare Program Payments…

Health Insurance Premium Growth

Health Insurance premium inflation is back.  According to the Kaiser Family Foundation Employer Health Benefits Survey 2011, health insurance premiums for single individuals was $5,429 for single individuals and $15,073 for a family plan.  Premium growth for single and family plans was below 6 percent per year over the last 5 years (2005-2010). However, between…