Burwell Touts Shift Away From Fee-For-Service Medicare Payments
Health and Human Services Secretary Syliva Mathews Burwell talks with the Los Angeles Times about improving quality of care through a change in payment systems.
Los Angeles Times:
Obama's Health Secretary Wants To Make Patients Healthier By Transforming How Doctors And Hospitals Get Paid
Largely out of the spotlight, Obama administration officials have labored on an equally sweeping project to transform the way America’s doctors, hospitals and other medical providers deliver care. The foundation of this effort involves scrapping the way medicine has traditionally been paid for – a system akin to auto repair in which each service a doctor or hospital provides is billed separately, no matter how well it is performed and what the long-term outcome is.In place of that, the Obama administration is trying to build a system that pays doctors, hospitals and others based on how their patients recover and how much their care costs. (Levey, 8/5)
In other Medicare news —
The New York Times:
New Medicare Law To Notify Patients Of Loophole In Nursing Home Coverage
In November, after a bad fall, 85-year-old Elizabeth Cannon was taken to a hospital outside Philadelphia for six and a half days of “observation,” followed by nearly five months at a nearby nursing home for rehabilitation and skilled nursing care. The cost: more than $40,000.The hospital insisted that Ms. Cannon had never been formally admitted there as an inpatient, so under federal rules, Medicare would not pay for her nursing home stay. The money would have to come from her pocket.The experience of Ms. Cannon and thousands like her inspired a new Medicare law — in force as of Saturday — that requires hospitals to notify patients that they may incur huge out-of-pocket costs if they stay more than 24 hours without being formally admitted. (Pear, 8/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
A New Medicare Charge Is Coming: Here’s How To Lessen The Blow
For high-income Americans covered by Medicare, now is the time to make tax moves to minimize an increase in premium surcharges. These surcharges apply because Congress has decided the top 5% or so of Medicare recipients should contribute more for their coverage than lower earners. Last year, about 3 million Americans owed extra premiums for Part B coverage for medical services, such as doctors, and about 2 million owed them for Part D coverage for drugs. (Saunders, 8/5)