6 Recent Medicare, Medicaid Issues

1. In fiscal year 2012, total Medicaid spending increased by only 2 percent on average across all states — a near-record low as the economy showed some signs of improvement and enrollment growth slowed.

2. Under the Republican’s budget plan in the U.S. House of Representatives, federal Medicaid spending would be cut by $1.7 trillion between 2013 and 2022. Payments to hospitals would take a severe hit. Under the block grant reductions, hospital Medicaid payments would drop by $363.8 billion over 10 years, assuming states made cuts across the board.

3. Three healthcare policy experts from previous presidential administrations penned op-eds about the 2012 election, including issues on Medicare.

4. Medicaid coverage, low income and rural living situation, lack of social support, being unmarried and portraying risky behaviors were found to have been associated with higher readmissions for heart failure patients.

5. The sustainable growth rate formula for Medicare physician payment rates has brought the U.S. healthcare system to its knees for the past several years. As physicians face yet another rate reduction this January, the formula is causing many within the profession to question their medicine business practices.

6. Urological surgeries performed in ambulatory surgery centers and physician offices instead of hospital outpatient departments are significantly less expensive, and shifting the cases from hospitals to ASCs could save millions of Medicare dollars annually.

More Articles on Medicare and Medicaid:

Next Up in Financial Management

CMS gains new authority to exclude providers from Medicare, Medicaid

CMS ends ACA subsidies for 189,000 duplicate or deceased enrollees: 5 things to know

Optum Health’s turnaround picks up speed

More Articles on Medicare and Medicaid:

Next Up in Financial Management

Join the 500,000+ healthcare executives who start their day with Becker's