Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
Earlier today, CMS released its annual report on national health spending for the year 2008. In summary, health spending grew at a rate of 4.4% (over 2007), equating to a per capita cost of $7,681 and a total cost of $2.3 trillion. This rate of growth, per CMS, is the slowest increase since 1960 although … Read more
Watching this reform process, at least for me, is now like watching a Ping Pong match or a Nascar race (sorry Nascar fans); back and forth and round and round. Even for someone who watches and interprets health policy for a living, this stuff is getting boring, monotonous and frankly, now somewhat nauseating, content wise. Maybe the … Read more
Last night via a 243 to 183 vote, the House approved a bill that would stave off the projected 21% cut in physician (fees) reimbursement under Medicare, set for January 1, 2010. The “Doc Fix” has been a hot-button issue within the health care reform debates as both the House and the Senate have not been … Read more
Its been about ten days since the House passed its version of health care reform and just now, it is possible to unwind and assess some of the cost/price details that are buried within the 2,000 page bill. Similarly, it is also possible for the general public to begin the process of digesting the ramifications … Read more
Late Saturday night by the slimmest of margins, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3962 otherwise known as the Affordable Health Care Act for America – three votes the other way and the Bill would not have passed. The Bill weighs in at over 2,000 pages (2,034) and represents the first major “stab” at reforming … Read more
This weekend, the House is reportedly set to vote on their version of healthcare reform – H.R. 3962. The bill is a “monster”; nearly 2,000 pages long. The title belies the fact that the Bill doesn’t just attempt to create “affordable health care” – it goes much, much further. For example, embedded within the hundreds of … Read more
Within the past two weeks, CMS released data from 1998 to 2008 for length of stay and diagnosis trends. What is interesting to note is the utilization trends (length of stay and numbers) over the period as well as the diagnosis correlated to utilization. For CMS and in particular MedPAC, the prevailing concern has been … Read more
In a post I wrote at the end of July concerning CMS’ 2010 rate announcement and compliance and regulatory trends, I indicated how the OIG was becoming more vigilant in reviewing hospice utilization, lengths of stay and in particular, the correlation between lengths of stay and hospice patients in an SNF. This past month, in mid-September, the … Read more
On October 1, the SNF industry received a 1.1% reduction in Medicare payments. On October 13th, the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of Healthcare Reform, commonly known as the Baucus Bill. While the Baucus Bill is the least penalizing to the industry, of the major health reform bills waiting in Congress, it is destined for the Senate shredder … Read more
After weeks/months of meetings, Senator Baucus of Montana representing the “gang of six” (three Democrats and three Republicans) released the Senate Finance Committee version of “healthcare reform”. What started as a bi-partisan sub-committee alternative to the House version (HR 3200) ended as essentially, a Baucus bill; legislation lacking any real support from Senate Democrats and … Read more