Medicare Dashboards

For which drugs does Medicare spend the most money?  For which inpatient hospital treatments does Medicare have the highest expenses.  CMS’s new Dashboards provide an easy to use source to access these high level summary statistics.  You can find this information here: Medicare Inpatient Hospital Dashboard (website, description) Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Dashboard (website, description)…

Healthcare Maps from RAC

The Rural Assistance Center (RAC) works with the Center for Applied Research and Environmental Systems (CARES) to create a variety of access to care maps. For some reason, I love maps.  Today, I will show you a few which may peek your interest. More maps below…

Largest one-year jump in health spending

According to a recent Health Affairs paper, health care spending as a share of GDP grew by the largest percentage point increase since the U.S. government has tracked national health expenditure.  Not only did the numerator (health spending) increase–especially for public spending–but the denominator also decreased (i.e., GDP).  The article begins as follows: “National health…

Safety Net Patients in California

The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) reviews how California’s safety net residents receive medical care.  Safety Net patients are considered those who have incomes below 300% of the federal poverty line.  Below is a list of governmental and non-governmental programs which serve California Safety Net residents. State: Medi-cal (California’s Medicaid program) and Healthy Families (California’s CHIP…

Trends in Employer-Provided Benefits

PricewaterhouseCoopers recently conducted a survey of about 700 companies to determine the latest trends in employer-provided benefits.  The survey, conducted in early 2010, assessed the level of health insurance, retirement, and other benefits provided by firms from over 30 industries. Today, I will focus on the results with respect to the health insurance.  Broadly, PPOs…