Tag: medicare

Health Affairs Blog: “Variation in Medicare Costs Suggests Inefficiencies That Might Be Corrected Through More Administrative Spending”

Administrative costs have often been a focal point of health care cost discussions, even though the data are very clear that soaring medical costs – not health plans’ administrative costs – are driving health care cost growth. A new Health Affairs blog post looks at Medicare administrative costs in comparison to private insurers, finding that “…the large variation in Medicare costs suggests inefficiencies that might be corrected through more administrative spending.” Continue reading

Posted in: Issue Alert

Ken Thorpe: Successful Medicare Advantage Approaches Can Be Used to Reform Medicare

A new paper by Ken Thorpe says that Medicare Advantage prevention and care coordination approaches can be used to reform original Medicare. Continue reading

Posted in: Issue Alert

Bloomberg: Consumers Pay the Price of Provider Consolidation

A Bloomberg article looks at an issue we’ve written about before – how provider consolidation increases health care costs. Continue reading

Posted in: Health Care Costs

GAO Report Looks at Medicare Spending on Part B Drugs

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) looks at Medicare spending on Part B drugs. Continue reading

Posted in: Health Care Costs

Preventing Hospital Readmissions – What You Need to Know

Beginning today, Medicare will start fining hospitals that have too many patients readmitted within 30 days of discharge. Continue reading

Posted in: Issue Alert

AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni Discusses Health Plans’ Efforts to Reshape the Health System

AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni discussed how health plans are helping to reshape the health system at the opening of AHIP’s Medicare Conference last week. Continue reading

Posted in: AHIP, Must See TV

AHIP Letter in JAMA on Antitrust Guidelines in Health Care Markets

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently published a letter-to-the-editor from AHIP in response to a recent article on anti-trust guidelines in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Continue reading

Posted in: AHIP

AHIP Submits Recommendations on Combating Waste, Fraud and Abuse in Medicare and Medicaid

AHIP submitted recommendations to the Senate Finance Committee on combating waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. Continue reading

Posted in: AHIP, AHIP Testimony

AHIP Welcomes CMS Actions to Help Consumers and Employers Make Better Health Care Choices

A final rule issued by CMS provides enhanced access to secure, privacy-protected Medicare data that can be used to help evaluate the performance of health care providers. Continue reading

Posted in: AHIP Press Releases

The Apothecary – The Myth of Medicare’s “Low Administrative Costs”

The Apothecary blog examines the true administrative costs of the Medicare program. Continue reading

Posted in: Fact Check