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Tag: cost of healthcare

Bundled Payments Could Cut Medicare Fraud, Experts Say

Health and policy experts are pushing for a system that pays doctors a lump sum for medical care or allows them to share in savings, saying it will save millions of dollars over current fee-for-service payments that can lead to fraud and over-use of medications.  In the new system, doctors would not be entitled to extra pay should they prescribe costlier medication.

Earlier this month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., raised the issue of lump sum – or “bundled” – payment plans at a hearing for the nomination of Sylvia Mathews Burwell to become secretary of Health and Human Services. A bundled payment demonstration project at Bay State Health in Massachusetts saved $2,000 per Medicare patient for things like hip transplants, she said.

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Contact Steven Cosby with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.

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Hospitals Are Cutting Down on Their Deadly Mistakes, HHS Says

People are human, hospitals are staffed by humans, so it’s no surprise that mistakes happen in hospitals. But it looks like hospitals are getting better at cutting down on their own errors.  The rate of hospital-acquired conditions — complications that develop during a patient’s stay — dropped nine percent between 2010 and 2012, according to new data from the Department of Health and Human Services. That translates to 15,000 fewer deaths in hospitals, a $4.1 billion savings in avoidable costs and a total of 560,000 “patient harms” avoided in 2011 and 2012, HHS says. For reference, a Journal of Patient Safety study last year estimated anywhere between 210,000 and 400,000 hospital deaths tied to preventable harm each year.

Read full article here.

Contact Steven Cosby with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.

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The First Attacks Based on the CBO Report on Obamacare and Workers

The Congressional Budget Office report on the impact of the Affordable Care Act was released on Tuesday, and already we have the first attack ads.
The Fact Checker devoted one column to explaining what the CBO’s report actually meant. But we have long learned that all the fact checks in the world won’t stop politicians if they think an attack line moves voters. So how do these early attacks fare?

Read full article here.

Contact Steven Cosby with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.

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Americans Remain Negative Toward Healthcare Law

With the open enrollment period for obtaining health insurance through a federal government exchange now over, Americans’ views on the broader healthcare law remain more negative than positive. Currently, 43% approve and 54% disapprove of the law, commonly known as “Obamacare.” The approval figure is a bit higher than Gallup’s estimates since last November, but disapproval is essentially unchanged.

Read full report here.

Contact Steven Cosby with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.

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