It’s tragedy of the commons with medicare, since it is a giant pool of healthcare no establishes value in it so it is more prone to waste money, because people getting the Medicare don’t care (ironic silence).
How many times has congress actually listened to the GAO/OMB? While I agree with you in premise, I think you could count the number of times on 2 hands.
I’m not sure whether this is good or bad: Brand-name drug use in Medicare was 2 to 3 times that in the VA.
The VA is often touted as the model for prescription coverage. It is very efficient. But the way it saves money is by having very small formularies, composed of generic drugs.
“Noise-reduction efforts really gained momentum last year, when Medicare began basing a portion of hospital reimbursement on quality measurements including patient ratings of the quality of care.”
Patients’ most frequent hospital complaint: noise.
I’ve heard it said that hospitals are the worst places to convalesce if you need rest. There’s noise, nurses coming in at all hours to take blood, check on you. I’ve hard anecdotes of nurses who wake you up in the middle of the night to give you a sleeping pill to help you sleep. You probably wouldn’t need a sleeping pill if they’d just shut up and leave you alone!
Medicare could have saved nearly $1 billion in 2011 if it had paid the lowest rate negotiated by private insurers for lab tests.
If they made a law that Medicare got the lowest price, labs would raise prices. Medicare wouldn’t save any more money. But other payers would pay more money.
For my latest hospital experience, that noise came from the nurse lounge party every night.
It seems like noise would be your last problem if you are having to stay the night in the hospital multiple times.
I think that it is good that hospitals are cracking down on noise, some people in hospitals are vast amounts of pain and noise could overwhelm them.
The bottom link isn’t functioning… although the headline sounds fascinating!
It’s tragedy of the commons with medicare, since it is a giant pool of healthcare no establishes value in it so it is more prone to waste money, because people getting the Medicare don’t care (ironic silence).
I think if Medicare had more congressional oversight or the GAO/OMB would audit them more often it could be a successful non-intrusive program.
How many times has congress actually listened to the GAO/OMB? While I agree with you in premise, I think you could count the number of times on 2 hands.
I’m not sure whether this is good or bad: Brand-name drug use in Medicare was 2 to 3 times that in the VA.
The VA is often touted as the model for prescription coverage. It is very efficient. But the way it saves money is by having very small formularies, composed of generic drugs.
“Noise-reduction efforts really gained momentum last year, when Medicare began basing a portion of hospital reimbursement on quality measurements including patient ratings of the quality of care.”
Ah regulation
Yes, Money makes the world go round doesn’t it…
Patients’ most frequent hospital complaint: noise.
I’ve heard it said that hospitals are the worst places to convalesce if you need rest. There’s noise, nurses coming in at all hours to take blood, check on you. I’ve hard anecdotes of nurses who wake you up in the middle of the night to give you a sleeping pill to help you sleep. You probably wouldn’t need a sleeping pill if they’d just shut up and leave you alone!
Medicare could have saved nearly $1 billion in 2011 if it had paid the lowest rate negotiated by private insurers for lab tests.
If they made a law that Medicare got the lowest price, labs would raise prices. Medicare wouldn’t save any more money. But other payers would pay more money.
“Medicare is the largest customer of clinical lab services and spent about $8.2 billion on them in 2010.”
Medicare has bargaining power.
And the states do it better too.
“The study showed that Medicare paid anywhere from 18% to 44% more than state Medicaid plans or private insurers on lab fees. “