News
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Washington Post: Working Americans are using less health care, but spending more
Read more: Washington Post: Working Americans are using less health care, but spending moreBy: Carolyn Johnson Americans who get health insurance through their jobs are not using more medical care than they were five years ago, but they are spending more due to soaring medical prices, according to a new report. Health spending for the more than 150 million people who receive insurance through their employers was $5,407…
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Doctors Lounge: Socioeconomic Factors Associated With Opioid Prescriptions
Read more: Doctors Lounge: Socioeconomic Factors Associated With Opioid PrescriptionsAmong disabled Medicare beneficiaries, county-level socioeconomic factors are associated with opioid prescriptions, with more prescriptions seen with lower socioeconomic indicators, according to a study published in the January issue of Medical Care. Chao Zhou, Ph.D., from the Health Care Cost Institute in Washington, D.C., and colleagues examined opioid prescriptions of disabled Medicare beneficiaries without record…
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Advisory Board: ED visits down – but ED facility fee spending is up, Vox analysis suggests
Read more: Advisory Board: ED visits down – but ED facility fee spending is up, Vox analysis suggestsSpending on emergency department (ED) facility fees rose steadily between 2009 and 2015, even as the overall number of ED fees billed declined, according to an analysis of Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) data, Sarah Kliff writes for Vox. However, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) is pushing back against the findings, noting that…
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Healthcare Dive: ER facility fees skyrocket faster than outpatient or overall healthcare spending
Read more: Healthcare Dive: ER facility fees skyrocket faster than outpatient or overall healthcare spendingBy: Les Masterson Dive Brief: Hospital emergency room (ER) facility fees increased 89% between 2009 and 2015, which is twice as fast as outpatient care and four times as fast as overall healthcare spending, reported Vox and Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) in a new report. Vox and HCCI analyzed 70 million insurance bills for…
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Vox: Emergency rooms are monopolies. Patients pay the price.
Read more: Vox: Emergency rooms are monopolies. Patients pay the price.By: Sarah Kliff Around 1 am on August 20, Ismael Saifan woke up with a terrible pain in his lower back, likely the result of moving furniture earlier that day. “It was a very sharp muscle pain,” Saifan, a 39-year-old engineer, remembers. “I couldn’t move or sleep in any position. I was trying laying down,…
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ProPublica: A Hospital Charged $1,877 to Pierce a 5-Year-Old’s Ears. This Is Why Health Care Costs So Much.
Read more: ProPublica: A Hospital Charged $1,877 to Pierce a 5-Year-Old’s Ears. This Is Why Health Care Costs So Much.By: Marshall Allen This story was co-published with NPR’s Shots blog. Two years ago, Margaret O’Neill brought her 5-year-old daughter to Children’s Hospital Colorado because the band of tissue that connected her tongue to the floor of her mouth was too tight. The condition, literally called being “tongue-tied,” made it hard for the girl to…
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Modern Healthcare: Q&A with Brennan – “You are going to have more of an interest in what services actually cost”
Read more: Modern Healthcare: Q&A with Brennan – “You are going to have more of an interest in what services actually cost”Three months ago, Niall Brennan was appointed president and executive director of the Health Care Cost Institute, a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on improving price transparency through the use of insurance data. He succeeds David Newman, a health policy expert who had led the organization since its founding in 2011. Brennan…
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Wall Street Journal: The Math Behind Higher Health-Care Deductibles
Read more: Wall Street Journal: The Math Behind Higher Health-Care DeductiblesBy. Melanie Evans, Yaryna Serkez, and Merrill Sherman More U.S. workers are taking a bigger out-of-pocket hit from their employer-provided health plans. Blame high deductibles. High-deductible plans required patients to spend $2,200 to $4,300, on average, in 2016 before insurance kicked in, and amounts can be significantly more. Employers have embraced high deductibles to cut…
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New York Times: Medicare Advantage Spends Less on Care, So Why Is It Costing So Much?
Read more: New York Times: Medicare Advantage Spends Less on Care, So Why Is It Costing So Much?By: Austin Frakt The Medicare Advantage program was supposed to save taxpayers money by allowing insurers to offer older Americans private alternatives to Medicare. The plans now cover 19 million people, a third of all those who qualify for Medicare. Enrollee satisfaction is generally high, and studies show that plans offer higher quality than traditional…
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Becker’s Hospital Review: 20 key takeaways on medical service prices – inpatient, outpatient, and physician services
Read more: Becker’s Hospital Review: 20 key takeaways on medical service prices – inpatient, outpatient, and physician servicesBy: Laura Dyrda The Health Care Cost Institute issued the “Healthy Marketplace Index: Medical Service Category Price Index” report for 2017 in April. The report calculates metrics comparing aspects of price, competition and productivity of healthcare markets over time, which shows trends for potential future research. The report includes data for inpatient, outpatient and physician…