Uncategorized

Survey Says: More Than One in Four Underinsured

28 percent of insured adults under the age of 64 were uninsured in 2016, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey. The survey also found that: More than half of the uninsured are insured through their employer. Nearly one in four insured through their employer are underinsured. More than one in four Medicaid recipients were underinsured. Half of the underinsured report problems paying their medical bills. Individuals with higher deductibles are more likely to report problems paying their medical bills. More than 45 percent of the underinsured report skipping care they need because of cost. Low-income people and those with chronic [...]

iqtsupport2017-10-27T10:56:29-04:00October 27, 2017|Uncategorized|

Helping With Homelessness Reduces ER Costs

Hospitals are finding that helping homeless, frequent emergency room visitors find housing can reduce their unreimbursed ER costs. Throughout the country, hospitals are investing money – in some cases, millions of dollars – in housing programs for the homeless. What they are finding when they do so is that the stability of reliable housing – coupled with supportive social services – appears to be reducing the frequency with which such individuals appear in their ERs. Examples of such programs can be found in Sacramento, Orlando, Portland, New York City, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. Learn more about what hospitals are doing, [...]

iqtsupport2017-10-20T06:00:26-04:00October 20, 2017|Uncategorized|

A New Twist on Telehealth

Residents of urban areas often have the same access-to-care problems as rural residents, although the latter receive far more attention. So concludes a new report published on the Health Affairs Blog. According to the analysis, urban and rural residents have similar access problems – and among urban residents, the problems in some instances are even greater. One distinction: …while rural America has access problems because there are not enough doctors, urban America has access problems because there are not enough appointments. One potential solution to this problem, the report suggests, is focusing on access instead of geography and making telehealth [...]

iqtsupport2017-10-17T06:00:14-04:00October 17, 2017|Uncategorized|

Non-Profit Hospitals Tout Community Benefit

Non-profit hospitals invest $11 for every one dollar they do not pay in taxes because of their tax-exempt status. Or so says a study prepared for the American Hospital Association. According to the study, in 2013 non-profit hospitals provided $67.4 billion worth of benefits to their communities compared to the $6 billion they would have paid in taxes had they been for-profit hospitals. Those community benefits came in four forms: financial assistance and means-tested government programs (such as unreimbursed Medicaid costs) community-building activities Medicare shortfalls bad debt attributable to charity care Learn more about what the study found and how [...]

iqtsupport2017-10-13T06:00:32-04:00October 13, 2017|Uncategorized|

Pay Issues Slow Telehealth Spread

While most health care organizations and providers intend to make greater use of telehealth in the coming years, the manner and speed with which that use grows is being limited in part by reimbursement issues. A survey conducted for the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives found that About half of the study respondents listed reimbursement as a limitation, noting that some payers have been slow to reimburse telehealth visits and or reimburse at rates that are lower than face-to-face care. Survey participants reported using telehealth in three primary ways: scheduled patient “visit,” on-demand urgent needs, and specialist consultations. Learn [...]

iqtsupport2017-10-12T06:00:27-04:00October 12, 2017|Uncategorized|

Tiered Networks = Lower Costs

Health plans that employ tiered provider networks reduce health care spending, a study has found. The report, published in the journal Health Affairs, found that tiered provider networks reduced spending on inpatient, outpatient, and outpatient radiology among non-elderly members of commercial health plans by five percent. Learn more about this conclusion and how researchers reached it in the Health Affairs article “Enrollment In A Health Plan With A Tiered Provider Network Decreased Medical Spending By 5 Percent,” which can be found here.

iqtsupport2017-05-11T06:00:24-04:00May 11, 2017|Uncategorized|

GAO Looks at Telehealth

With growing interest in using telehealth, or telemedicine, to serve patients in geographically remote or underserved areas, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, operating under a mandate from the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), has examined potential barriers to the use of this relatively new form of care. Among the barriers it found were cultural issues, inadequate licensure, lack of coverage (and reimbursement) for such services, and access and provider training issues. GAO offered no recommendations for addressing these challenges. Learn more about GAO’s findings by going here to see the report Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring [...]

iqtsupport2017-04-25T06:00:37-04:00April 25, 2017|Uncategorized|

Medical Homes and High-Need Patients

With five percent of patients accounting for 50 percent of health care costs, such high-need patients are the subject of increasing attention as health care providers search for better ways to serve them at less cost. Such patients are especially challenging when they lack the financial resources and personal support systems needed to address their considerable medical needs. One of those ways is through the concept of the medical home: an approach to primary care, also often referred to as a patient-centered medical home, that is a team-based approach to delivering patient-specific, coordinated, accessible care that focuses on quality and [...]

iqtsupport2017-04-14T06:00:55-04:00April 14, 2017|Uncategorized|

New County Health Rankings Published

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has published health rankings for every county in the country. Among the health or health-related factors for which the rankings provide data are: demographic information quality of life health factors percentage of population uninsured supply of health care providers and services socio-economic factors the physical environment Find the county health rankings here.

iqtsupport2017-04-04T06:00:10-04:00April 4, 2017|Uncategorized|

The More High-Need Patients, the Better the Care

Physician practices that serve higher proportions of high-need patients have lower health care costs, fewer hospital admissions, and fewer emergency room visits than physician practices that serve lower proportions of high-need patients. This was the conclusion of researchers who analyzed four years of claims data for high-needs patients in Michigan. The study also found some evidence that smaller medical practices are more effective in serving high-need patients than larger practices. The study, “Outcomes For High-Needs Patients: Practices With A Higher Proportion Of These Patients Have An Edge,” was supported by the Commonwealth Fund, and is summarized by the fund here. [...]

iqtsupport2017-03-20T06:00:30-04:00March 20, 2017|Uncategorized|