Medicare

Replacing Medicare's Payment Formula with Incentives to Improve Care

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The Potential Impact of Using Cost-Effectiveness Evidence in Medicare Coverage Decisions

May 28, 2013 - Commonwealth Fund–supported researchers illustrate the potential gains in health and efficiency if decision-makers at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were to take into account cost-effectiveness when making Medicare coverage decisions.

Medicare Advantage Costs Often Exceed Traditional Medicare

May 7, 2013 - Under the Affordable Care Act, overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans are gradually being pared back. But will private plans be able to cope with the reduced payments? Using newly available government data, this brief examines average costs among Medicare Advantage plans and variation in costs among plan types.

Proposed "Medicare Essential" Plan Would Save Billions While Simplifying Benefits, Lowering Costs

May 6, 2013 - Combining Medicare's hospital, physician, and prescription drug coverage with commonly purchased private supplemental coverage into one health plan could produce national savings of $180 billion over a decade while improving care for beneficiaries, a new Health Affairs study finds.

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The Effect of Medicare Readmissions Penalties on Hospitals' Efforts to Reduce Readmissions: Perspectives from the Field

February 26, 2013 - Medicare recently began financially penalizing hospitals that have higher-than-expected rates of 30-day readmissions for select conditions. To understand the impact, researchers talked with teams participating in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's initiative.