Hospitals, doctors and other Medicare providers are on the hook for a 2 percent cut under looming government spending reductions. But they're not raising a ruckus. Why? The pain could be a lot worse if President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans actually did reach a sweeping agreement to reduce federal deficits. Automatic cuts taking effect Friday—the "sequester" in Washington-speak—would reduce Medicare spending by about $100 billion over a decade. But Obama had put on the table $400 billion in health care cuts, mainly from Medicare. And Republicans wanted more.
Washington's repeal-Obamacare crowd is feeling a little lonely these days, abandoned by an increasing number of Republicans who have bowed to the political reality that the law isn't going anywhere anytime soon. First, the Supreme Court upheld the law last year. Then, voters returned President Barack Obama to office in the face of GOP vows to scrap his plan—and possibly replace it. Now, a growing number of Republican governors are embracing controversial components of the law, including its Medicaid expansion and its health care exchanges.
The Affordable Care Act will extend health insurance to millions of Americans—a number that grows weekly with Republican governors signing onto the Medicaid expansion. Health policy experts expect that increased insurance coverage will lead to increased demand for health care. Once a patient has access to health insurance coverage, the thinking goes, she or he will be more likely to turn up seeking care. Nine months out from the insurance expansion, there's a fierce battle underway—largely in the states—over who gets to provide that care.
Providence-based Lifespan and UnitedHealthcare hope a new partnership announced Wednesday will close gaps in what they call a fragmented health care system—while improving patient health and lowering costs. Officials said Lifespan is one of only a handful of organizations across the U.S.—and the first in Rhode Island—to participate in UnitedHealthcare's "shared savings" program. The effort emphasizes collaborative care and a payment system based more on how patients are doing than the volume of procedures or tests a doctor or lab performs.
Dr. Nikita Levy and the Johns Hopkins clinic where he worked have no records of complaints against them, according to state health officials. But just who is responsible for oversight of the East Baltimore Medical Center where he is alleged to have secretly recorded his patients? Two state health regulatory bodies have the authority to investigate complaints that might have been received about Levy or the center, health officials said. But neither has broad authority over clinics like the East Baltimore center.
Treating a sprain in a U.S. hospital can cost $4 to $24,000, making a trip to the emergency room financially risky for uninsured patients, researchers said. A study found wide variety between the lowest and highest charges for 10 common conditions, highlighting the unpredictability of health-care costs. Bills were $50 to more than $73,000 for urinary tract infections, $15 to $17,797 for headache care and $29 to $29,551 for intestinal infections.