Hospitals Have Got Your Back, Maybe a Little Too Quickly
Back surgery is one of the best documented examples of expensive medical treatments that drive up health care costs while not always helping patients, and sometimes even hurting them. The latest Medicare data show that hospitals frequently order MRI back scans for patients who haven’t even tried recommended treatments such as physical therapy. An MRI often prompts surgery. […]
High Medical Spending Found In Unexpected Places, Says Study
Quick: Where do insured Americans spend the most on health care? Miami? Los Angeles? Nope. It’s Anderson, Ind., where people with employer-provided insurance spent an average of $7,231 on medical treatments. That’s according to an analysis of 382 metropolitan areas examined by Thomson Reuters, a consulting firm that has one of the biggest databases of insurance claims from employers. Anderson’s […]
Seven Hospitals Share Distinction Of Highest Readmission Rates
As Medicare prepares to start punishing hospitals with higher-than-average readmissions, seven hospitals have a particularly dubious distinction: higher-than-average rates for three kinds of patients. These hospitals all had worse readmission rates than the average hospital for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia patients — the three categories Medicare tracks. The hospitals were: San Juan VA […]
Double Chest CT Scans Persist, New Data Show
Hospital use of double chest scans in 2009 barely changed from the previous year, despite clinical guidelines that say these CT tests should be used sparingly, according to newly released Medicare data. In a double CT scan, patients get two imaging tests consecutively: one without dye and the other with dye injected into their veins. […]
Medicare Scales Back Rule On Hospitals With Pricey Patients
Medicare today scaled back its proposal to hold hospitals accountable for the cost of patient care in the 90 days after discharge. Medicare announced in its final rule that hospital payment would be reduced if the hospital’s average patient had a higher than normal cost to Medicare during their stay until 30 days after discharge […]
Medicare Prepares Rule To Penalize Hospitals With High Readmission Rates
The federal health care program also wants to pay less to hospitals with higher-than-average costs for patient care.
Health Industry Could Feel Pinch, Then Pain From Default
Within a few weeks of a shutdown of Medicare and Medicaid money, health care providers could be in financial trouble. No one knows how to plan for it.
Poll Finds Americans Gloomy On Some Promises In Health Law
Only 20 percent of people believe consumer protections will get better under the law.
Medicare To Examine Quality Of Care At Outpatient Surgery Centers
The quality of care at outpatient surgical centers has remained a mystery even as their number has swelled to more than 5,000. But as Medicare moves toward taking quality into account in setting payments, it’s going to start looking at the rates of problems at these facilities, formally known as ambulatory surgery centers, or ASCs. […]
Hospice Companies Focus In On Nursing Home Patients
Dying patients in nursing homes are an increasingly lucrative market for hospice companies, which have expanded rapidly into these facilities, according to a new federal audit. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General found that Medicare spending on hospice care for patients in nursing facilities grew by 69 percent over just four […]
Study: Hospitals Differ On Response To Medicare Cuts
A new study in Health Affairs provides more reason for concern that the trend of hospital consolidation, which may have been accelerated by the health care law, will lead to higher prices for the privately insured in places where hospitals have lots of market power. The study found that as Medicare payments drop, hospitals that […]
Are Rising Hospice Costs A Concern?
KHN’s story on concerns about the rising costs of hospice to Medicare, which ran Tuesday in The New York Times, has stirred up passionate debate among palliative care blogs and advocates. The story reported that the fourfold increase in hospice costs over the last decade has heightened worries that Medicare’s flat fee method of payment […]
Public Willing To Accept Minor Medicare Cuts, Poll Finds
Most Americans are willing to accept some level of cuts in Medicare spending to keep the program financially sound or to ease the federal budget deficit, but they still balk at major reductions, according to a new survey released Thursday. The poll results show that public opinion on Medicare cuts remains malleable, subject to influence by […]
Study: Small Doctors’ Practices Not ‘Home’ Yet
A study released Thursday on the Health Affairs website documents how far small- and medium-sized physicians’ practices have to go to create patient-centered medical homes. Under this model of care, primary care doctors manage all of a patient’s care and coordinate with the specialists. The Affordable Care Act encourages model homes as having potential to reduce […]
U.S. Health Surveys To Ask About Sexual Orientation
The government’s major health surveys would begin asking people to identify their sexual orientation under a proposal released today by the Obama administration. Under the proposal, the National Health Interview Survey and other major research tools would ask people to identify whether they are straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The idea was recommended by […]
For-Profit Hospices Get New Scrutiny As Costs Grow
Are for-profit companies driving up the cost of Medicare’s hospice benefit? After a decade in which most new hospices were started by corporations, half of Medicare-certified hospices are now for-profits. Concurrently, Medicare’s hospice costs have increased from $2.9 billion in 2000 to $12 billion in 2009, making it one of the fastest growing segments of […]
Growing Hospice Care Costs Bring Concerns About Misuse
Although the benefit is intended for patients who have no more than six months to live, 19 percent now receive hospice services for longer.
‘Double’ Chest Scans Increase Costs And Exposure To Radiation
Many hospitals are performing unusually large numbers of a type of CT scan experts say should be done sparingly.
Report: Big Flaws In How Medicare Pays Hospitals, Doctors
A prestigious Institute of Medicine panel says Medicare’s methods of evaluating regional costs are disturbingly imprecise and need to be overhauled.
Medicare Announces Rules For Quality Bonuses To Hospitals
Extra funding will be awarded to facilities that do better than average on quality of care and patient satisfaction.
