Headlines about "Health plan costs - healthcare delivery"
Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
Health Plans: Hospital-Physician Price and Quality Transparency
Excerpt: "Responding to large employers' interest in greater health care price and quality transparency, health plans are developing consumer tools to compare price and quality information across hospitals and physicians, but the tools' pervasiveness and usefulness are limited, according to findings from the Center for Studying Health System Change's (HSC) 2007 site visits to 12 nationally representative metropolitan communities." (Center for Studying Health System Change)
Some Hospitals Require Insured Patients to Make Larger Upfront Payments for Elective Procedures, Surgeries
Excerpt: "The South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Tuesday examined how across the U.S., 'some insured patients are being asked by hospitals to pay larger portions of their bills upfront -- and sometimes hospitals will not do the procedures until they get their copayments.'" (Kaiser Family Foundation)
[Guidance Overview] Employer's State Law Claims Against Stop Loss Carrier Dismissed
Excerpt: "[Bank of Louisiana v. Aetna US Healthcare Inc., the] Fifth Circuit case on remand, highlights an area of particular interest to those of us that work with self-funded group health plans - the relationship between the employer and the stop loss carrier. In this case, the Fifth Circuit gave the employer an opportunity to pursue several state law claims against Aetna, the stop loss carrier, but these claims failed to reach the conduct that was the gravamen of the employer's complaint." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
[Guidance Overview] Healthcare Provider May Assert State-Law Claims Against Plan for Failure to Disclose Patient's COBRA Coverage Status
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Many reported cases address the difficult issue of when claims against ERISA plans by service providers and other third parties should be treated as preempted, and the results are difficult to reconcile. The Seventh Circuit did not address the merits of the case in this opinion, but its legal conclusions are troubling as they open up potential liability under state law for amounts not payable under the terms of the plan document. Of course, COBRA plans are already required by the IRS COBRA regulations to provide complete information to inquiring healthcare providers about COBRA status . . . ." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)
Colorado to Create Largest Telehealth Network Nationwide
Excerpt: "The Colorado Hospital Association will use a Federal Communications Commission grant worth up to $4.6 million over three years to develop a telehealth network throughout Colorado, Healthcare IT News reports. The Colorado telehealth network, which is set to be the largest health care information network in the U.S., aims to curb health care costs, increase consumers' convenience and reduce potential medical errors." (California HealthCare Foundation)
Physician Care and Telemedicine
Excerpt: "The use of information technology in diagnosing, treating and monitoring patients -- known as telemedicine -- is adding a new dimension to modern health care. Entrepreneurs are using the telephone, the Internet and personal computers for innovative solutions to traditional problems of health care delivery. These advances are not only making care more accessible and convenient, they are also raising quality and containing medical costs." (National Center for Policy Analysis)
How the Loss of Adequate Health Insurance Is Burdening Working Families
Excerpt: "In 2007, nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults, or an estimated 116 million people, struggled to pay medical bills, went without needed care because of cost, were uninsured for a time, or were underinsured (i.e., were insured but not adequately protected from high medical expenses)." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Globalisation and Health Care
Excerpt: "Over 45m Americans are uninsured, and many millions more are severely underinsured. Such people may find it cheaper to fly abroad and pay for an operation out of their own pockets than to find the money for deductibles or 'co-payments' charged for the same procedure at home. Arnold Milstein of Mercer, a consultancy, calls them America's 'medical refugees'." (The Economist)
The Coming Boom in Medical Travel Could Help Both Rich and Poor
Excerpt: "Tens of millions of middle-class Americans are uninsured or underinsured and soaring health costs are pushing them and cost-conscious employers and insurers to look abroad for savings (see article). At the same time the best hospitals in Asia and Latin America now rival or surpass many hospitals in the rich world for safety and quality. On one estimate, Americans can save 85% by shopping around and the number who will travel for care is due to rocket from under 1m last year to 10m by 2012 -- by which time it will deprive American hospitals of some $160 billion of annual business." (The Economist)
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 for August 2008
Excerpt: "The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 poll finds that one in four (24%) Americans continues to struggle with paying for health care. Health care ranks as a 'serious problem' above paying for food (18%), problems with debt (16%), and paying the rent or mortgage (15%) and below paying for gas (37%) or getting a good paying job or raise in pay (26%)." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Health Information Technology: Standards Alone Will Not Lead to Adoption, Let Alone Transform Health Care (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "Proponents of health IT must resist 'magical thinking,' such as the notion that technology will transform our broken system, absent integrated work on policy or incentives. The alternative route to transforming the system sets all of its sights on the destination." (Health Affairs)
[Guidance Overview] No Breach of Fiduciary Duties by Broker or by Directors Who Selected Insurance Policy
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: We thought this case was interesting for two reasons. The first is a reminder that fiduciary status is generally not an 'all or nothing' concept, but is a functional test that requires a determination of whether a person is a fiduciary regarding the particular activities in question. The second is this court's conclusion that deciding to purchase and renew a policy is analogous to the fiduciary function of choosing a plan service provider. This would seem to imply that ERISA's fiduciary standards, including its 'prudent person' rule, apply to a plan's selection of a particular policy among competing alternatives." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)
WellNet Launches Online Social Networking Program for Health Care Coordination
Excerpt: "WellNet Healthcare this month will launch a test version of Point to Point Healthcare, a social network linking users' physicians, pharmacists and insurance benefit managers, the Washington Post reports. The online tool will allow employees of companies who use the program to connect their health care providers to facilitate treatments." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Organizational Fragmentation and Care Quality in the U.S. Health Care System
Excerpt: "Many goods and services can be readily provided through a series of unconnected transactions, but in health care close coordination over time and within care episodes improves both health outcomes and efficiency. Close coordination is problematic in the US health care system because the financing and delivery of care is distributed across a variety of distinct and often competing entities, each with its own objectives, obligations and capabilities. These fragmented organizational structures lead to disrupted relationships, poor information flows, and misaligned incentives that combine to degrade care quality and increase costs. We illustrate our argument with examples taken from the insurance and the hospital industries, and discuss possible responses to the problems resulting from organizational fragmentation." (National Bureau of Economic Research; paid subscription or individual purchase required to retrieve fulltext)
Medicare Secondary Payer — Coordination of Benefits (PDF)
18 pages. Excerpt: "Under certain conditions, the law makes Medicare the secondary payer to insurance plans and programs for beneficiaries covered through (1) a group health plan based on either their own or a spouse's current employment; (2) auto and other liability insurance; (3) no-fault liability insurance; and (4) workers' compensation situations, including the Black Lung program. The purpose of the MSP program is to shift costs from Medicare to private sources of payment, thus reducing Medicare expenditures." (U.S. Congressional Research Service)
Surgical Errors Cost Nearly $1.5 Billion Annually
Excerpt: "Potentially preventable medical errors that occur during or after surgery might cost employers nearly $1.5 billion a year, according to new estimates by the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)." (Wolters Kluwer)
Drug Therapy Often Trumps Angioplasty, Study Finds
Excerpt: "The slim early advantage for angioplasty at relieving pain in these nonemergency cases starts to fade within six months and vanishes after three years, according to a new report from a landmark heart study. That is sooner than the five years doctors estimated last year after their first analysis of the study. The new information comes from patients' own reports of how they fared after treatment. Results are in today's New England Journal of Medicine." (San Francisco Chronicle)
Beach Erosion on the ERISA Waterfront
Excerpt: "These are interesting times for those who contend for clients along the Maginot Line of ERISA's preemption provisions. Never a particularly easy line to follow, the perimeter has become increasingly uneven on several fronts. [These include provider reimbursement cases, equitable or promissory estoppel, state prohibitions on discretionary clauses, and state law actions against service providers.]" (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Medical Tourism: Health Care Free Trade (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "BlueShield of California has a health plan, Access Baja, designed for Americans and Mexicans who choose to receive medical care in northern Mexico. In 2007, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina established Companion Global Healthcare, a network of foreign-based hospitals that includes internationally accredited medical facilities in Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Costa Rica and Ireland. Denver-based BridgeHealth International also has a provider network of offshore hospitals, clinics and physicians." (National Center for Policy Analysis)
Research Network Pilot to Study Effectiveness of Medical Treatments
Excerpt: "The Joseph H. Kanter Family Foundation and the eHealth Initiative Foundation have launched an 18-month pilot project to test a distributed research network that aims to use electronic health records to study the clinical effectiveness of certain medical treatments." (California HealthCare Foundation)
Strapped Americans Scrimping on Insurance, Medical Care
Excerpt: "In a survey of 686 consumers, the [National Association of Insurance Commissioners] discovered that 22% have cut back on the number of trips they take to a doctor as a result of today's economy. Eleven percent of respondents have reduced the number of prescription drugs they take or the dosage of these medications to stretch the prescription over a longer period of time." (Investment News; free registration required)
Safety-Net Providers Balance Margin and Mission in a Profit-Driven Health Care Market (PDF)
9 pages. Excerpt: "This paper describes how intensifying competitive pressures in the health system are simultaneously driving increased demand for safety-net care and taxing safety-net providers' ability to maintain the mission of serving all, regardless of ability to pay. Although safety-net providers adapted to previous challenges arising from managed care, health system pressures have been more intense and more generalized across different sectors in recent years than in the past. Providers are adopting some of the same strategies being used in the private sector to attract higher-paying patients and changing their 'image' as a safety-net provider." (Health Affairs)
Eating-Disorder Class Actions Get Federal Judge's Go-Ahead
Excerpt: "U.S. District Judge Faith Hochberg denied motions to dismiss in Beye v. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, 06-Civ.-5337, and Foley v. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, 06-Civ.-6219, following an earlier decision that allowed a similar suit against Aetna to go forward. At issue is whether eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are biologically based mental illnesses, for which state law and the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey policies at issue require benefits comparable to those for physical ailments." (New Jersey Law Journal via Law.com)
Comparative Effectiveness in Health Care Delivery - Better Value for the Money? (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Comparative effectiveness ('CE') research is a hot topic these days because it offers the attractive prospect of cutting costs while improving the quality of health care. Simply stated, CE aims to assess how various procedures or interventions for a given ailment compare with each other. CE is part of a broader movement to make sound science-based evidence the basis for medical practice." (Alliance for Health Reform)
[Guidance Overview] ERISA's Governmental Plan Exemption Defeats Provider's Claims
Excerpt: "Motion practice plays a significant role in ERISA cases. Thus, the ERISA defendant often has an early opportunity to unhinge a plaintiff's case, and any plaintiff escaping a thorough vetting of claims through various motions should be considered fortunate indeed." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Organizing the U.S. Health Care Delivery System for High Performance
Excerpt: "This report from The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System examines fragmentation in our health care delivery system and offers policy recommendations to stimulate greater organization -- established mechanisms for working across providers and care settings." (The Commonwealth Fund)
[Opinion] Benefits of 'Never Events' Strategy Questionable
Excerpt: "The trend toward refusing to pay medical providers for services where the insurer deems the invoice unjustified may not be as helpful to consumers as has been claimed. . . . First, it isn't always a simple matter to separate legitimate treatment that would have been required in any event from disputed charges. Second, medical providers will not simply agree with the insurer in all cases for a number of reasons, some related to a bona fide disagreement and others related to the legal implications of admitting error." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Large Wisconsin Businesses See Reduced Health Care Costs Under New Program
Excerpt: "Health care costs for 18 large employers in southeastern Wisconsin's Business Health Care Group have declined by 9% over the past two years under a plan developed for the group, according to an analysis, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The coalition comprises more than 675 businesses and was created to help reduce health care costs for employers in the state. The 18 large employers included in the analysis provide health benefits for 55,000 employees, retirees and family members." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
BCBS Illinois to End Reimbursements to Hospitals for Treatment Related to Serious Medical Errors
Excerpt: "Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois recently announced plans to end reimbursements to hospitals for treatment that results from serious medical errors, the Chicago Tribune reports. BCBS Illinois spokesperson Jack Segal said that the health plan has not finalized a list of serious medical errors included under the policy. He said, 'The majority of hospitals do not bill us for never events, but given the complexity of billing, billing systems and billing agencies, some never events may slip through,' adding, 'With this new policy in place, we can work to close the gaps, and also focus on improving quality.'" (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Public Views on U.S. Health System Organization: A Call for New Directions
Excerpt: "Adults' health care experiences underscore the need to organize care systems to ensure timely access, better coordination, and better flow of information among doctors and patients. There is also a need to simplify health insurance administration. There was broad agreement among survey respondents that wider use of health information systems and greater care coordination could improve patient care. The majority of adults say it is very important for the 2008 presidential candidates to seek reforms to address health care quality, access, and costs." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Wall Street Journal Examines Proliferation of Urgent Care Clinics
Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday examined how patients 'who need immediate care for injuries and illness . . . are increasingly turning to walk-in urgent care clinics.' According to the Journal, such clinics -- which require no appointment and offer extended weekend and evening hours -- 'fill the gap' between the need for care and an increasingly limited supply of primary care physicians and crowded emergency departments." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Increased Popularity of Medical Tourism Affects Health Care Provider Revenue
Excerpt: "More U.S. patients have begun to travel abroad or visit retail clinics for medical services, practices that could reduce expenses for consumers and health insurers but also could cost physicians and hospitals billions of dollars in revenue annually, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Bill in Congress Would Lift Lifetime Health Insurance Benefit Caps to $10 Million
Excerpt: "H.R. 6528, introduced July 17, would stipulate that the lifetime cap on a group health plan would be $5 million for the first two years and $10 million in years three and four. It also would provide an annual adjustment to a group insurance plan's lifetime cap based on the Consumer Price Index in subsequent years." (AISHealth.com)
Workers' Compensation Insurer Must Pay for Gastric Bypass Surgery
Excerpt: "An obese worker's gastric bypass surgery is compensable under Oregon's workers' compensation law because the procedure was necessary to treat a job-related knee injury, an appeals court rules." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
[Guidance Overview] Harsh Consequences of Shoddy Claim Denials and Explanations of Benefits
Excerpt: "Two recent district court decisions highlight the fact that administrators issuing unclear or incomplete claim denial letters do so at their own peril. In both Tinker v. Versata, Inc. Group Disability Income Insurance Plan, No. 2:06-CV-02906 (E.D. Cal. July 13, 2008) and O'Connell v. Northland Lutheran Retirement Community Employee Benefit Plan, No. 07-C-637 (E.D. Wis. July 15, 2008), judges imposed significant penalties on plans for failing to live up to ERISA's standards in their explanations of claim denials." (McGuireWoods LLP)
[Guidance Overview] Seventh Circuit Permits Provider To Assert State Law Claims Over ERISA Preemption Challenge
Excerpt: "In this recent provider reimbursement case, the Seventh Circuit has given ERISA preemption a narrow footprint which signals the continuance of a trend favoring state law remedies for providers based upon the Davila analysis. The case points up a stark contrast between provider claims and those of employees where promised benefits are disappointed." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
[Guidance Overview] State Law Claim Against ERISA Plan Avoids Preemption
Excerpt: "In the case of Franciscan Skemp Healthcare, Inc. v. Central States Joint Board Health & Welfare Trust Fund No. 07-3456 (7th Cir.)(July 31, 2008), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals determined that when a party files a pure state law claim against an ERISA plan, preemption to Federal Court is improper." (Passion for Subro)
Blues Plan Drops Co-pays for Retail Clinic Care
Excerpt: "The objective is to encourage plan members to use the retail clinics -- which cost less than physician's office visits, hospital emergency room or urgent care centers." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Wired for Health Care Quality Act (S. 1693), Senate Floor Version (PDF)
93 pages. Excerpt: "To enhance the adoption of a nationwide interoperable health information technology system and to improve the quality and reduce the costs of health care in the United States." (U.S. Senate via American Benefits Council)
Minnesota Gov. Discusses Plan to Improve Consumers' Access to Health Information
Excerpt: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) on Tuesday unveiled a plan to allow all Minnesotans to access their personal health records and compare prescription and procedure costs online, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports . . . ." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Legislation Would Require Greater Transparency in Physician Self-Referrals for Imaging Procedures
Excerpt: "Senate Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) recently introduced legislation (S 3343) that would require physicians to disclose their financial ties to imaging services ordered under Medicare when making self-referrals, CQ HealthBeat reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Ensuring Quality through Appropriate Use of Diagnostic Imaging
12 pages. Excerpt: "Published reports illustrate how initial radiology benefit management programs are able to achieve 10 to 20 percent reduction in actual expenditures; while mature programs can hold annual costs trends between 5 and 7 percent. Several health insurance plans have reported reductions in the average growth of utilization from 25% to 1% after a radiology benefit management program was implemented. Others report an 82% decrease in utilization of inappropriate imaging and reductions of up to $2.00 per member per month over two years." (America's Health Insurance Plans)
The Distribution of Public Spending for Health Care in the United States, 2002 (PDF)
11 pages. Excerpt: "We examined data for 2002 from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey aligned to the National Health Expenditure Accounts and augmented with simulated tax subsidies. The public sector accounted for 56.1 percent of health spending within the civilian noninstitutionalized population. Our analysis highlights this sector's role in financing the care of seniors and people in poor health." (Health Affairs)
Health Insurers to Cover In-Store Clinic Visits in Massachusetts
Excerpt: "Some of the state's largest health insurers will cover visits to health clinics expected to open in some pharmacies later this year. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan have signed contracts with CVS Caremark Corp., which plans to open as many as 28 MinuteClinics in Massachusetts stores." (AP via Boston Herald)
Health Net Settlement at $215 Million May Set Class Action Record
Excerpt: "The class action against Health Net, based upon claims of ERISA and RICO violations pertaining to out of network reimbursements, has formally ended. An agreement reached between the parties late last years has now been approved by district court judge Faith Hochberg. Health Net has agreed to pay $215 million, but denies any wrongdoing." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Hearing on Promoting the Adoption and Use of Health Information Technology, Thursday, July 24, 2008
The target page presents the witness list with links to their testimony. (U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Health)
Pennsylvania Gov. Signs Law Requiring Private Health Insurers To Cover Treatment for Autism
Excerpt: "A bill recently signed by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) will require private health insurance companies in the state to provide diagnosis and treatment coverage of up to $36,000 per year for residents under age 21 with autism spectrum disorder, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The law, which is scheduled to take effect in July 2009, also requires insurers to provide coverage for applied behavioral analysis therapy that experts say is a key element in treatment of the disorder." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
[Guidance Overview] Successor Liability Is Alive and Well in the ERISA Context
Excerpt: "Reaffirming the vitality of the 'successor liability' theory, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio recently held that the purchaser of the business assets of an employer was liable for the unpaid medical claims of the employees. Schilling v. _________, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45233 (S.D. Ohio June 9, 2008). The case is a good example of why in corporate transactions ERISA and other benefits need to be identified, quantified and addressed in a heads-up manner." (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)
[Opinion] Audio and Text: Retail Health Clinics: Convenience With Caveats
Excerpt: "Most patients really like them. A recent national poll found that between 80 and 90 percent of users were satisfied with the quality of care, convenience and costs of these clinics. They especially liked the no-appointment-necessary policy and short waiting times." (All Things Considered via National Public Radio)
Testimony: Evidence on the Costs and Benefits of Health Information Technology (PDF)
40 pages. CBO July 24, 2008, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Health, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives. This statement reprises the Congressional Budget Office's May 2008 report 'Evidence on the Costs and Benefits of Health Information Technology." (U.S. Congressional Budget Office)
[Guidance Overview] Health Net Settlement at $215 Million May Set Class Action Record
Excerpt: "The class action against Health Net, based upon claims of ERISA and RICO violations pertaining to out of network reimbursements, has formally ended. An agreement reached between the parties late last years has now been approved by district court judge Faith Hochberg. Health Net has agreed to pay $215 million, but denies any wrongdoing." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Sick & Fired: Is There 'Health Discrimination' in the Workplace?
Excerpt: "Patients' advocates say some companies, squeezed by rising insurance costs, are finding reasons to fire workers with long-term illnesses. Statistics aren't available on how often this happens. But increasingly, health-care costs are driving a 'wedge' between employers and their employees, said Jerry Flanagan with Consumer Watchdog, a California-based advocacy group." (Orlando Sentinel via Consumer Watchdog)
ERISA Subrogation Rights
Excerpt: "[A] number of employers are not adequately using a tool that their plan already contains in the fight against rising health care costs - reimbursement through subrogation. . . . ERISA allows employers the right of subrogation, so many group health plans contain what is commonly called 'subrogation' provisions. Generally, these provisions state that the plan is entitled to reimbursement from the participant of any medical expenses the plan previously paid that the participant later recovers from another party responsible for those expenses." (Aiken and Aiken)
A Smart Rx for Employee Health - An On-Site No-Frills Clinic
Excerpt: "[The] numbers show why. By focusing on preventive care and aggressively managing chronic medical conditions, [health-care costs have been sharply cut]. It is cheaper to manage an employee's diabetes than pay to put her in a hospital for a week to treat infections." (Orlando Sentinel)
Common Misconceptions About Self-Funding Health Plans
Excerpt: "With a fully-insured plan, employers know what they must pay over a specified time period. With self-insurance, claims and costs go up and down from year to year, which can make budgeting difficult. A self-insured employer therefore must have the financial resources, or cash flow, to meet its obligations." (Employee Benefit Advisor; free registration required)
[Opinion] Healthy Americans Impose Higher Costs in the Long-Term
Excerpt: "Medical economists agree that cancer screenings and gym classes can lead to physical well-being and longer lives. But in the interests of honest accounting, they add that prevention does not reduce overall health-care spending. On the contrary. Let's put it bluntly: Longer lives cost more money. Those who make it to 90 thanks to exercise and six daily servings of vegetables are more likely to suffer the expensive ravages of old age. Everyone dies of something. So he who avoids a fatal heart attack at 70 is more at risk of cancer at 80. Those extra 10 years can mean extra CT scans, hip replacements and physical therapy, even for those in relative good health." (The Detroit News)
Firms Consider Laparoscopic Surgeries to Reduce Costs
Excerpt: "At the urging of a medical device maker, employers are considering whether to promote a less costly form of surgery that may reduce the time people take off work. Experts say minimally invasive procedures known as laparoscopic surgeries are less costly in the long run compared with traditional open surgery." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Insurance Companies Trying to Save Long-Term by Increasing Doctors' Fees Now
Excerpt: "That is the premise of experiments under way by federal and state government agencies and many insurers around the country. The idea is that by paying family physicians, internists and pediatricians to devote more time and attention to their patients, insurers and patients can save thousands of dollars downstream on unnecessary tests, visits to expensive specialists and avoidable trips to the hospital." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Medical Loss Ratios: Evidence from the States (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "In March and April 2008, Families USA conducted a 50-state survey that determined which states have laws or regulations that establish a minimum medical loss ratio (see table on page 3). Individual market results are reported in Failing Grades: State Consumer Protections in the Individual Health Insurance Market (June 2008). This memo supplements the report with additional data." (Families USA)
Testimony: The Potential Benefits and Costs of Increased Adoption of Health Information Technology (PDF)
9 pages. Testimony presented before the Senate Finance Committee on July 17, 2008. Excerpt: "In this testimony, I will use HIT to include an electronic medical record that replaces the paper medical record and includes such associated functions as clinical decision support for facilitating evidence-based medicine, patient tracking and reminders for preventative services, computerized physician order entry to facilitate prescribing and other physician orders, and electronic connectivity of providers (and, in some cases, among providers and patients)." (RAND Corporation)
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