Medicare Blog

how to reduce cost shifting in medicare and ahcccs?

by Kenna Bednar V Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago

What is the cost-shifting model of Medicare?

Feb 01, 2022 · Help with Paying Medicare Costs Only. A person receiving Medicare may qualify to have their Medicare premiums, co-payments, and deductibles paid. To learn more, select one of the following: ... AHCCCS 801 E Jefferson St Phoenix, AZ 85034 Find Us On Google Maps. Phone: 602-417-4000 ...

Does AHCCCS deduct Medicare Part A&B premiums?

The goal of this program is to decrease unnecessary transports to emergency departments and reduce hospital admissions while simultaneously connecting members with the appropriate level of care, at the right time and at the right place, in order to improve quality and reduce costs. AHCCCS began reimbursing qualified emergency transportation providers for providing ET3 …

What happens when you lower Medicare hospital prices?

Jan 30, 2014 · REDUCING HEALTH COSTS: • Lower cost health care equipment and supplies. In 100 metropolitan areas, a strong Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) competitive bidding program set new, lower payment rates for medical equipment and supplies. This program has already saved more than $400 million for Medicare …

How can I learn more about AHCCCS?

Feb 02, 2020 · Their article represents the first time that the cost-shifting issue has been examined from a public financing point of view. Meyer and Johnson bring to the work professional backgrounds in health ...

How is cost shifting implemented within the healthcare settings?

Cost shifting occurs when hospitals and other providers try to make up for lost revenue on Public Sector patients (Medicare and Medicaid) by charging Private Sector payers more than the expenses they incur.

What are the most effective ways to control healthcare costs?

Eight ways to cut your health care costs
  1. Save Money on Medicines. ...
  2. Use Your Benefits. ...
  3. Plan Ahead for Urgent and Emergency Care. ...
  4. Ask About Outpatient Facilities. ...
  5. Choose In-Network Health Care Providers. ...
  6. Take Care of Your Health. ...
  7. Choose a Health Plan That is Right for You.
Aug 13, 2020

How does cost shifting affect health care?

Cost shifting occurs when a hospital or other health-care provider charges an insured patient more than it does an uninsured patient for the same procedure or service. Those with health insurance, in effect, pay for the financial loss hospitals incur when they provide services to those without insurance.

How can healthcare facilities reduce costs?

Standardizing how patients move around in your hospital is a great way to reduce costs and improve the quality of care. Some hospitals hire specialized patient transporters to help move this process along and reduce bottlenecks.

How can nurses reduce healthcare costs?

Saving Money While Maintaining Quality Patient Care

Ensuring nursing departments stay on budget. Reducing waste. Creating adequate staff schedules that avoid overtime hours. Seeking out lower-cost employee benefits.
Nov 9, 2016

What are three ways to reduce health care costs?

Three Ways to Lower Health Care Costs
  • Equalizing Medicare Payments Regardless of Site-of-Care. ...
  • Reducing Medicare Advantage Overpayments. ...
  • Capping Hospital Prices.
Feb 23, 2021

What factors affect hospitals ability to practice cost shifting?

Cost shifting is possible if hospitals have underexploited their market power. Measures of public and private payer volume (or one relative to the other) are related to cost-shifting behavior. Hospitals do not maximize profit. Both cost shifting and cost cutting are expected responses due to public payment reductions.

What is cost shifting in hospitals?

Cost shifting implies that privately insured patients pay part of the cost of care for publicly insured and uninsured patients, implying that the extent of redistribution in the US health system is much greater than tax-based analyses alone would suggest.Jun 26, 2021

What is the differences between cost shifting and cross subsidization?

While cross-subsidization may be more widely used in hospitals, it differs from cost-shifting in that it does not automatically lead a hos- pital or healthcare organization to charge other departments or patients more simply because some departments or patients are less profitable, as cost shifting is bound to do.

How can we reduce healthcare costs without affecting patient care?

Optimize Scheduling, Staffing, and Patient Flow

Optimization offers another way to reduce the cost of healthcare without compromising patients' health and safety. Hospitals can examine how patients move throughout their facilities to create a standardized flow.

How do hospitals save costs?

11 Cost-cutting Ideas to Help Hospitals Save in Less Than a Week
  1. Conduct an Energy Audit. ...
  2. Weigh Food to Reduce Waste. ...
  3. Conserve Water. ...
  4. Move to Online Subscriptions. ...
  5. Eliminate Paper Records. ...
  6. Reduce Red Bag Waste. ...
  7. Improve Temperature Management. ...
  8. Optimize Water Coolers.
Dec 13, 2018

Why should we lower healthcare costs?

Excessive spending on healthcare places significant burdens on American businesses and family budgets and endangers the funding of vital programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

What is the AHCCCS?

Today’s health care system is a series of parts not yet connected to each other. AHCCCS has various initiatives designed to improve care coordination and communication while reducing fragmentation to weave these series of parts together. Learn more about Care Coordination and Integration.

What is SMHP in Medicaid?

The State Medicaid Health Information Technology Plan (SMHP) describes the Agency’s historical, current, and future efforts to improve health outcomes by leveraging electronic health record (EHR) deployment, adoption, and use by providers. In addition, AHCCCS continues to be an active participant in the Health Information Network of Arizona (HINAz), Arizona’s Health Information Exchange. Learn more about Health Information Technology.

What is EVV in nursing?

EVV shall serve as an electronic verification method to help reduce administrative burden associated with hard copy timesheet processing as well as generate cost savings from the prevention of fraud, waste, and abuse. AHCCCS is mandated to implement Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) for non-skilled, in-home services (attendant care, personal care, homemaker, habilitation, respite) by January 1, 2019 and for in-home skilled nursing services (home health) by January 1, 2023. For more information: EVV Webpage.

What is the Health Equity Committee?

Formally established in July 2020, the Health Equity Committee is tasked with understanding health disparities and developing strategies to ensure health equity for all AHCCCS-eligible individuals and members. This committee is responsible for overseeing and managing recommendations as they relate to policy, data, health plan oversight and emerging health care innovation strategies for over 2 million Arizonans. Learn more about Health Equity Committee.

What is ET3 in healthcare?

ET3 aims to reduce unnecessary transports to emergency departments, while simultaneously connecting members with the appropriate level of care, at the right time and at the right place. The goal of this program is to reduce hospital admissions, while improving quality and reducing costs. Learn more about ET3.

What is EHR in healthcare?

Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Adoption of electronic health records continues to increase among physicians, hospitals, and others serving Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries helping to evaluate patients’ medical status, coordinate care, eliminate redundant procedures, and provide high-quality care. More than 62 percent of health care professionals, and over 86 percent of hospitals, have already qualified for EHR incentive payments for using certified EHR technology to meet the objectives and measures established by the program, known as meaningful use. Electronic health records will help speed the adoption of many other delivery system reforms, by making it easier for hospitals and doctors to better coordinate care and achieve improvements in quality.

Why is electronic health records important?

Electronic health records will help speed the adoption of many other delivery system reforms, by making it easier for hospitals and doctors to better coordinate care and achieve improvements in quality. • Partnership for Patients.

What is the state innovation model?

• Providing states with additional flexibility and resources to enhance care. The State Innovation Models Initiative aims to help states deliver high-quality health care, lower costs, and improve their health system performance. Nearly $300 million has been awarded to six states (Arkansas, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont and Oregon) that are ready to implement their health care delivery system reforms and nineteen states to either develop or continue to work on their plans for delivery system reform.

Abstract

The commercial health insurance industry and, to some extent, large employers have sharply attacked government policies that have led hospitals to shift costs to private patients because of inadequate payment from Medicare and Medicaid. The industry estimates that these cost shifts now total $6 billion.

Prologue

The commercial health insurance industry and, to some extent, large employers have sharply attacked government policies that have led hospitals to shift costs to private patients because of inadequate payment from Medicare and Medicaid. The industry estimates that these cost shifts now total $6 billion.

How many hospitals lost money in 2016?

About three-fourths of short-term acute-care hospitals lost money treating Medicare patients in 2016, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), an independent agency established to advise the U.S. Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program.

How many Medicare beneficiaries will there be in 2030?

By 2030, there will be 81.5 million Medicare beneficiaries vs. 55 million today. The fact that Medicare is the largest single federal domestic program means that further cuts in Medicare payment are a virtual certainty when, not if, the federal budget deficit is driven higher by recessions. What this means for hospitals is crystal clear: Unless ...

What is legacy Medicare?

Medicare’s legacy payment system places a premium on controlling labor and supply expenses and eliminating wasted or low-value imaging procedures and laboratory tests as well as minimizing operating-room time, intensive-care stays, and a host of other expensive services.

Who is Jeff Goldsmith?

Jeff Goldsmith is a national adviser to Navigant Consulting and president of Health Futures, a strategy consulting firm . Richard Bajner is managing director of Navigant Healthcare and head of the firm’s payer provider practice. Read more on Operations management or related topic Healthcare.

Why use data analytics?

Use data analytics to develop a pathway to higher profitability. Hospitals are drowning in data. The problem is focus: how to sharpen their analytics to identify potential cost-reduction opportunities that apply to all patients, not just their Medicare patients.

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