Patient-Centered Medical Homes Project Produces Mixed Results
A patient-centered medical homes program in Colorado reduced participants’ emergency room visits and hospital admissions. Yet it did not saving money. The program, involving 98,000 patients and 15 medical practices, reduced emergency room visits 9.3 percent from a baseline over [...]
One State’s Battle With DSH Cuts
Hospitals across the country are concerned about the degree to which the Affordable Care Act is reducing the Medicare disproportionate share hospital (Medicare DSH) payments that help underwrite the cost of the care they provide to uninsured patients. Those in [...]
Medicare Cuts May be Part of Budget Deal
The agreement between the White House and congressional negotiators on a two-year budget deal and an increase in the federal debt ceiling will be paid for in part with reductions in Medicare payments. Under the reported agreement, negotiators agreed to [...]
Responding to Budget Deal, NAUH Urges Congress Not to Cut Medicare Payments
In the wake of the agreement between the White House and congressional leaders on a two-year budget deal and an increase in the federal debt ceiling, the National Association of Urban Hospitals has written to Congress asking members not to [...]
Are Medicare ACOs Living Up to the Hype?
Not yet. At least that’s the conclusion to be drawn based on a report recently released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). According to a CMS fact sheet, …the 20 ACOs [accountable care organizations]in the Pioneer ACO [...]
Increases in Medicaid Enrollment Should Slow
Growth in Medicaid enrollment, significant this year and last, should slacken in 2016, according a new Kaiser Family Foundation report. That growth – 8.3 percent in 2014 and 13.8 percent in 2015 – should fall to approximately four percent next [...]
Low-Income Workers Rejecting Health Insurance
Low-wage workers offered health insurance by their employers are largely rejecting that option, according to a report in the New York Times. According to the Times, most of the progress in reducing the number of unemployed Americans has been made [...]
Patient-Centered Care Needs Closer Scrutiny, Study Says
While the growing emphasis on patient-centered care has turned from a theory into an active tool in the development of public health care policy, a greater emphasis must be placed on cataloguing and examining more closely those efforts. Or so [...]
Urban Hospitals Getting More Involved in Their Communities
Driven by a combination of poverty, the tax code, and Affordable Care Act requirements, more private safety-net hospitals are reaching out into their communities to spur employment and create economic opportunities. As described in a new Stateline report, hospitals in [...]
MedPAC Meets, Talks Alternative Payment Models, Medicare Advantage Star Ratings, More
The agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues met last week in Washington, D.C. During two days of public meetings the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) heard presentations about and discussed a number of issues of interest to private [...]
