Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Although Medicare has a set rate schedule, not all hospitals receive the same payment for providing the same service. Among the number of adjustments Medicare makes to its inpatient prospective payments rates are the indirect medical education (IME) and disproportionate share hospital (DSH). The goal of IME is to compensate hospitals for patient care costs…
Often, this is done with claims-based measures and beneficiary surveys. Today, I take a more detailed look at the UnitedHealth Premium physician designation program. The program evalutates physicians based on established quality measures and–for those who meet the minimum quality requirement–a measure of efficiency (i.e., low cost). A more detailed description is available here. Without…
Health care prices have risen dramatically in recent years so that health care spending makes up more than 16% of the U.S. economy. Howmuch of this increase is due to the increase in the price of medical care? In a previous article, I noted that there are two main ways to measure price increases for…
One of the key components of Health Reform (a.k.a. Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act) is the creation of Health Insurance Exchanges. Not any plan can participate in the exchanges however. First, these plans must cover certain Essential Health Benefits (EHB). Second, the plans must meet certain actuarial value (AV) thresholds. Health Plans are grouped…
As part of the Health Reform (a.k.a. Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act), States have to create health insurance exchanges for the individual and small group market. Can any plan join the exchange? The answer is no. Plans in the exchange must cover, at a minimum, meet certain essential health benefits (EHB). How do states…
The jobless rate for veterans is 6.3 percent, but for veterans who have served since 9/11, the jobless rate is 12.1 percent. What does President Obama propose to do to help Veterans. Bloomberg reports that: Obama said he will continue to support the Post-9/11 GI bill, which provides financial support for education to individuals who…
Across the U.S. Waiting 15, 30 or even 45 minutes for a physician appointment is not uncommon. Let me clarify, waiting 45 minutes for a scheduled appointment is not uncommon. It doesn’t have to be this way. The PBS Newshour describes Virginia Mason Medical Center‘s re-design of its medical clinics, in which waiting rooms are…
Is lack of health insurance a killer? Is health reform a job killer? UnitedHealth profits up 23% Repugnance. Squatty Potty.
Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapely. The Wall Street Journal coverage is here. An exerpt is below: Two Americans won the Nobel Prize in economics Monday for research that has improved the way people are matched with limited resources, such as patients with donated organs or students with their preferred high schools. Alvin Roth, a Harvard…
The unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage point to 7.8 percent in September. Although employment rose and the unemployment rate fell, the main reason for the rise in employment was an increase in part time jobs. How does healthcare relate to the changes in employment in the September jobs report? Let’s think about this question,…