| Hot Topic: Learning from Medicare: Prospective Payment |
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| In the wake of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act or ACA) in 2010, policymakers are grappling with implementation of several Medicare-related provisions in the legislation. As policymakers consider specific Medicare payment reforms, it is useful to reflect on past efforts to change what and how the program pays for health care services, as well as HCFO’s long-standing role in supporting research examining the effects. This is the first of
three Hot Topics over the next few months that will evaluate previous Medicare reforms and identify some lessons that may be relevant to the current policy environment. The series will review three aspects of the Medicare program that have influenced the larger health care system—the development of a prospective payment system, the coverage decision process, and the growth of Medicare managed care within Medicare Advantage.
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| HCFO Releases a New Findings Brief on Hospital Cost-Shifting |
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| Medicare payment policy remains an important issue as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) calls for reduced Medicare payments to health care providers, including hospitals. In the past, certain stakeholders have argued that lower payments to hospitals by Medicare and Medicaid can lead to cost-shifting, charging private payers more to compensate for shortfalls in payments from public programs. Austin Frakt, Ph.D., of Boston University undertook the first systematic review of the
literature on cost-shifting since the 1990s. Frakt's review updates this earlier work, and frames cost-shifting in today's policy context.
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| New Data for Researchers |
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| AHRQ released information about new offerings from the HCUP Online Tutorial Series, and recent reports on hospitalizations related to childbirth, medication-related adverse outcomes, and uninsured hospital stays. NCHS released a new report, “Ambulatory Medical Care Utilization Estimates for 2007.”
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| Grantee Spotlight: Austin Frakt, Ph.D. |
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| Austin Frakt, Ph.D., served as the co-principal investigator on a HCFO-funded study that modeled the market entry and exit behavior of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and preferred provider organizations (PPOs).
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| New Grantee Publications |
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| News and Events |
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On May 2, HCFO launched a new online grant application system. The system is now live and you may begin to submit applications.
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