Starting next year, the federal government will require health insurers to give millions of Americans enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans or in policies sold in the federally run health exchange up-to-date details about which doctors are in their plans and taking new patients. Medicare Advantage plans and most exchange plans restrict coverage to a network of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that can change during the year. Networks can also vary among plans offered by the same insurer. So it's not always easy to figure out who's in and who's out, and many consumers have complained that their health coverage doesn't amount to much if they can't find doctors who accept their insurance.
In April, the government will begin boiling down patient feedback into a five-star rating. Federal officials say they hope that will make it easier for consumers to digest the information now available on Medicare's Hospital Compare website. The hospital industry says judging a hospital on a one-to-five scale is too simplistic. Nationally, hospitals have improved in all the areas the surveys track, including how clean and quiet their rooms are and how well doctors and nurses communicate . But hundreds of hospitals have not made headway in boosting their ratings, federal records show.
The expansion of health care insurance can drive the development of new technologies that can drive up health care spending. But it doesn't have to. By historical standards, health spending growth has been low since 2002. As the federal and state governments expand health insurance coverage, will this relatively low growth continue? The answer depends in large part on how investments in health care technology are encouraged. Health economists have shown that both insurance expansion and technology drive health spending upward. A few studies have teased out a deeper relationship between the two: By increasing the market for health care products (like prescription drugs and medical devices), coverage expansion encourages investment in health sector research and development.
Florida is set to lose more than $1 billion in aid to hospitals around the state if doesn't expand its Medicaid program. Over the weekend, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell told him her position on the aid is firm. The aid pays hospitals for providing care to the indigent. It's supposed to end because Obama's health care plan provides indigent care through the Medicaid program. But the Florida Legislature has refused to accept federal money available under the health care plan for expanding Medicaid.
Hospitals, like everything else these days, are big business. The industry has been consolidating for several years now, with over 100 hospital mergers and acquisitions reported in 2012. But as the big hospital chains absorb smaller and financially weaker facilities, consumers are facing a lot of confusion about which hospitals will give them the services they and their loved ones need. And conflicting scores from several nationally recognized hospital ratings systems are making it even harder for people seeking quality health care, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality.
Letting patients see their medical records while they're in the hospital might ease worry and confusion without extra work for doctors and nurses, a small study suggests. "The hope is that increased transparency achieved by sharing electronic medical records with patients while they're in the hospital would make them more engaged in their care, more satisfied, and more likely to ask questions and catch errors," said lead study author Dr. Jonathan Pell, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado in Denver. These days patients more often have access to electronic medical records from checkups and outpatient treatments, but typically only after care is completed — and not for procedures while they're in the hospital.