Health Affairs
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Commercial inpatient hospital price growth driven by system affiliation and nonprofit-status hospitals
Tags: Health Affairs
Read more: Commercial inpatient hospital price growth driven by system affiliation and nonprofit-status hospitalsRecent data from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) show that growth in hospitals’ commercial inpatient prices was higher in system-affiliated and non-profit hospitals from 2012-2021. Key Findings: In the backdrop of a wave of hospital mergers, system-affiliated non-profit hospitals account for more than half of short-term general acute care hospitals in the US (from…
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Health Affairs: What Is Driving Health Care Spending Upward In States With Cost Growth Targets?
Read more: Health Affairs: What Is Driving Health Care Spending Upward In States With Cost Growth Targets?HCCI’s 2019 HCCUR was featured in a Health Affairs article on increases in health care spending. From the article: “Price increases in most years have been highest in the commercial market. While there is some variation across states, a national analysis of commercial claim data by the Health Care Cost Institute found that from 2015…
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Health Affairs: The Hospital Industry Is In A Financial Mess: We Have A Unique Opportunity To Fix It
Read more: Health Affairs: The Hospital Industry Is In A Financial Mess: We Have A Unique Opportunity To Fix ItHCCI’s research on hospital market concentration was featured on the Health Affairs blog. From the article: “Economists have long worried about the growth in hospital concentration. A 2019 study by the Health Care Cost Institute showed that the percentage of metro regions with hospital markets defined as highly concentrated based on Department of Justice criteria rose…
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Health Affairs: COVID-19, Market Consolidation, And Price Growth
Read more: Health Affairs: COVID-19, Market Consolidation, And Price GrowthHCCI’s work on the growth in private health insurance spending was recently cited in an article by Health Affairs. From the article: “The supremacy of price is also supported by the work of the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI), which found that between 2014 and 2018, US private insurer health spending per person increased by 18.4…
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Health Affairs: Treatment Of Opioid Use Disorder Among Commercially Insured US Adults, 2008–17
Read more: Health Affairs: Treatment Of Opioid Use Disorder Among Commercially Insured US Adults, 2008–17Abstract: There is abundant literature on efforts to reduce opioid prescriptions and misuse, but comparatively little on the treatment provided to people with opioid use disorder (OUD). Using claims data representing 12–15 million nonelderly adults covered through commercial group insurance during the period 2008–17, we explored rates of OUD diagnoses, treatment patterns, and spending. We…
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Health Affairs: Physician Prices And The Cost And Quality Of Care For Commercially Insured Patients
Read more: Health Affairs: Physician Prices And The Cost And Quality Of Care For Commercially Insured PatientsAbstract: We analyzed the relationship between prices paid to 30,549 general internal medicine physicians and the cost and quality of care for 769,281 commercially insured adults. The highest-price physicians were paid more than twice as much per service, on average, as the lowest-price physicians were. Total annual costs for patients of the highest-price physicians were…
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Health Affairs: Despite The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, COVID-19 Evaluation Is Not Necessarily Free
Read more: Health Affairs: Despite The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, COVID-19 Evaluation Is Not Necessarily FreeHCCI’s 2018 Annual Report was cited in a Health Affairs article on coverage of COVID-19 testing. From the article: “Consider cost sharing for a privately insured patient under seven possible evaluation scenarios, shown in exhibit 1. First, if the patient is evaluated in person but does not receive any testing, cost sharing could be imposed…
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Health Affairs: Prevalence And Characteristics Of Surprise Out-Of-Network Bills From Professionals In Ambulatory Surgery Centers
Read more: Health Affairs: Prevalence And Characteristics Of Surprise Out-Of-Network Bills From Professionals In Ambulatory Surgery CentersAbstract: Patients treated at in-network facilities can involuntarily receive services from out-of-network providers, which may result in “surprise bills.” While several studies report the surprise billing prevalence in emergency department and inpatient settings, none document the prevalence in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). The extent to which health plans pay a portion or all of out-of-network…
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Health Affairs: Surprise Bills, Benchmarks, And The Problem Of Indexation
Read more: Health Affairs: Surprise Bills, Benchmarks, And The Problem Of IndexationHCCI data was cited in a Health Affairs blog article on surprise billing. From the Article: “Over the past year, the congressional debate over surprise billing has converged on two policy options to resolve out-of-network payments—1) a simple benchmark, in which a health plan pays out-of-network providers the median rate agreed with local in-network providers…
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Health Affairs: Private Equity and Powerful Physician Groups Raise Another Distraction
Read more: Health Affairs: Private Equity and Powerful Physician Groups Raise Another DistractionHCCI data on market concentration was mentioned in a Health Affairs blog post. From the article: “Before we even get into the merits and effects of Congress’ fix for surprise billing, it’s worth noting that the status quo is bad for networks. Most markets—particularly in urban areas—are highly concentrated, giving providers such as hospitals and…