July 6th, 2011 by DavidHarlow in Health Policy
No Comments »
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley released her office’s second annual report, An Examination of Health Care Cost Trends and Drivers (PDF; see also press release), which contains a wealth of critical data analysis — and also highlights how little we know about certain things — providing some important context for the discussion of the proposed Part III of Massachusetts health reform, a bill filed by Governor Patrick which would create all-payor ACOs and a system of global payments.
At this late date, few would argue against a move a way from fee-for-service reimbursement for health care, or adding quality metrics to the mix, and tying financial rewards to providers to their performance measured against these metrics. (Consider the Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield ACQ (alternative quality contract) experience.) The AG’s report, however, highlights the wide disparities in payments to providers based on negotiating strength, rather than quality or cost of care (as noted in last year’s AG report; check out the 2009 special commission report, too). Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at HealthBlawg :: David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog*
September 3rd, 2009 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy
No Comments »
Bad news in the paper today: health care costs are expected to rise another 10.5% next year. It’s a serious problem that affects businesses and families across the country.
But the headlines miss something important: the rate of increase has been steadily slowing.
Are we already bending the health care cost curve?
Here is a chart of the rate of increase in health premiums for a PPO plan beneficiary from 2002-2009 (all data are from today’s Aon press release):
The data for other plan types are similar. What’s happening?
Aon’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Berger says it’s because of the variety of measures employers have taken over the last several years to implement programs to improve their employees’ health. He emphasizes there is still much more to be done.
He has a point. It’s something we have seen in our survey of major employers, and in the work that leading employers like EMC and Genzyme are doing. It’s what my company does, too. Employers are getting increasingly sophisticated at understanding what drives their health care expenses and are developing increasingly effective ways at addressing them.
So, yes, of course, we need reform of our health care system, and of course rising health care costs are a serious concern. But American employers are doing something about these problems all on their own.
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
