Medicare Spending

How Has COVID-19 Impacted Medicare Spending, Solvency?

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The Medicare Trust Fund is still expected to run out by 2026 despite increased Medicare spending on COVID-19 treatment and prevention over the past year and a half, a new report reveals. The annual...

Nurse Staffing Shortage Drives Hospital Readmissions, High Spending

by Jill McKeon

Medicare spent an estimated $5 billion on hospital readmissions in 2018, which could be partially explained by nurse staffing shortages, a recently rereleased Government Accountability Office (GAO)...

6 Groups: Medicare Sequestration Shouldn’t Fund Infrastructure Plan

by Jill McKeon

Funding for the Biden administration’s new infrastructure package should not come with the sacrifice of extending mandatory Medicare sequestration through 2031, the AHA and other major healthcare...

Social Determinants Are Associated with Increased Medicare Spending

by Victoria Bailey

Social determinants of health (SDOH) are associated with increased Medicare spending per beneficiary in certain geographic areas, according to a study from the Journal of the American Medical...

Before COVID-19, Healthcare Spending Increased by 4.6%

by Jacqueline LaPointe

National healthcare spending continued to grow right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, increasing by 4.6 percent in 2019 to a total of $3.8 trillion, the American Medical Association (AMA)...

Medicare Claims Data Show Health Disparities in COVID-19 Patients

by Jill McKeon

Researchers found significant disparities in Medicare fee-for-service beneficiary spending in an analysis of Medicare claims data relating to COVID-19, according to a Centers for Disease Control and...

Study Finds High Rates of Low-Value Care, But Hospitals Disagree

by Jacqueline LaPointe

A study finding widespread and persistent delivery of low-value care services is based on incomplete data and omits important clinical details, according to the leading hospital professional...

Medicare FFS Claims Suggest Targeted Low-Value Care Interventions

by Hannah Nelson

Hospitals that are for-profit, non-teaching, and/or located in the South administer the highest rates of low-value care among traditional Medicare beneficiaries, according to a new study published in...

Providers Try to Stave Off Looming Medicare Spending Cuts

by Jacqueline LaPointe

UPDATED The American Medical Association (AMA) has urged Congress to prevent pending Medicare spending cuts triggered by the latest COVID-19 relief plan. In a March 16 letter to House Speaker...

Providers Blast Medicare Spending Cuts in COVID Relief Package

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The latest $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package includes several provisions advantageous to healthcare providers but will leave them to face significant Medicare spending cuts in the future. Passed...

Physician Specialties Hit Hardest by Medicare Spending in 2020

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Medicare spending on physician services decreased by $9.4 billion, or 19 percent, in the first half of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis from the American Medical...

Next Generation ACOs Saved Medicare $558M in 2019

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) taking on the greatest financial risk in Medicare through the Next Generation ACO Model saved the public payer over $558 million in 2019, according to partial data...

Variation in Medicare Spending Narrows as Top-Spenders Cut Costs

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Healthcare spending variation has been a major challenge for the industry, but a new study in Health Affairs has found that the gap between high- and low-cost regions is getting smaller based on...

National Healthcare Spending to Climb to 19.7% of GDP by 2028

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Researchers at the Office of the Actuary at CMS project national healthcare spending to grow at an average annual rate of 5.4 percent from 2019 through 2018, outpacing the average projected growth in...

1% of People Account for 22% of Total Healthcare Spending

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The majority of total healthcare spending is concentrated in a small percentage of the population, according to a new statistical brief from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality...

CMMI Alternative Payment Models Won’t Save As Much as CBO Projects

by Samantha McGrail

Medicare will save approximately $18 billion from alternative payment models run by CMS’ Innovation Center (CMMI) between 2017 and 2026, a $16 billion difference compared to predictions from the...

Medicare Outlier Limits Led to $502M in Excess Hospital Payments

by Samantha McGrail

Supplemental hospital payments from Medicare were overstated by $502 million for 60 hospitals because of limits on the reconciliation process for outlier payments that stops contracted reviewers from...

National Healthcare Spending Increased to $3.6T in 2018

by Jacqueline LaPointe

National healthcare spending in 2018 grew at a rate of 4.6 percent to $3.6 trillion, which translated to about $11,172 per person, the Office of the Actuary at CMS recently reported. The growth rate...

Accountable Care Organizations Saved Medicare $3.5B, Netting $755M

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program saved CMS approximately $3.52 billion from 2013 to 2017, according to a new analysis from analytic firm Dobson DaVanzo &...

ACOs Save More Compared to Medicare Advantage, Report Finds

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The Medicare Shared Savings Program, which governs the majority of Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs), and Medicare Advantage are gaining in popularity. But the former is saving taxpayers,...