Political campaigns for elected office can be exhaustive affairs for voters, particularly when they occur in months and even more than one year in advance of an election. A more optimistic view of the matter suggests, however, that these contests are enormously valuable in shedding light on the nature of important social issues and how best to address them.
Health care represents close to 20% of the U.S. economy, the largest in the world. Even when healthy, individuals want to know they are protected to a great extent from the ravages of illness and disease by being able to have insurance coverage. In its simplest form, they want to derive comfort from knowing that cost will not inhibit them from obtaining the care that they need when they need it from the providers they wish to furnish treatment.
Presently, several candidates are competing to determine which one will secure the nomination for the presidency in 2020. Rightfully so, they focus much of their potential electability in the eyes of voters on how they plan to address health care issues in this country. Proponents of a Medicare For All initiative promise to offer an extensive range of benefits by the government at no cost to patients. Their appeals differ on the basis of details, such as the time needed to implement the new program and how to pay for it. Other candidates stress the need to maintain a system of private insurance coverage.
As debates continue to unfold, policy analysts who support as well as those who oppose such proposals weigh in with their respective critiques of what is being touted as an overhaul of a a remarkably complex system. An advantage of their doing so is that a clearer picture emerges of whether ideas currently being proposed will represent either an improved or perhaps even a worse future arrangement.
Hospital Compare Data On Quality
November 4, 2019 began a 30-day preview period for hospitals to see the data that will be reported publicly on Hospital Compare next year. As part of the Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting (IPFQR), Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR), Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR), and Prospective Payment System (PPS)-Exempt Cancer Hospitals Quality Reporting (PCHQR) programs, hospitals have 30 days to preview their data prior to public reporting on Hospital Compare. As part of this preview, hospitals (excluding cancer hospitals) also will see an updated Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating that publicly will be reported on Hospital Compare next year.
Hospital Price Disclosure Rule
On November 15, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized policies that follow directives in President Trump’s Executive Order, entitled “Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare to Put Patients First,” that lay the foundation for a patient-driven healthcare system by making prices for items and services provided by all hospitals in the United States more transparent for patients so that they can be more informed about what they might pay for hospital items and services.
CMS is finalizing the proposal to define hospital “items and services” to mean all items and services, including individual items and services and service packages, that could be provided by a hospital to a patient in connection with an inpatient admission or an outpatient department visit for which the hospital has established a standard charge. Examples of these items and services would be supplies, procedures, room and board, use of the facility and other items (generally described as facilities fees), services of employed physicians and non-physician practitioners (generally reflected as professional charges), and any other items or services for which a hospital has established a standard charge.
It is highly likely that the hospital industry will mount a legal challenge to the imposition of this rule. At issue is a requirement that hospitals make public the rates they negotiate with insurers for all services.
More Articles from November 2019 TRENDS
TECHNOLOGICAL IMPERATIVE CHALLENGES
Indicates why technological developments warrant closer scrutiny from the standpoint of attempting to prevent unwanted negative consequences and disruptive impacts. Read More
PRESIDENT’S CORNER
Phyllis King’s two-year term as ASAHP’s President became effective on October 18, 2019. She offers her thoughts on what she would like to see occur during that time period. Read More
MASS MEDIA FOCUS ON CAPITOL HILL
While the mass media devote considerable attention to efforts to impeach President Trump, reauthorizing both the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and funding for historically black colleges and other minority-serving institutions provide examples of other initiatives deserving of increased focus. Read More
HEALTH REFORM DEVELOPMENTS
Discusses proposed health reform legislation by candidates running for the presidency, hospital compare data on quality, and a new hospital price disclosure rule. Read More
DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Summarizes federal rules involving student assistance, recognition of accrediting agencies, and state agency procedures. Read More
QUICK STAT (SHORT, TIMELY, AND TOPICAL)
Adolescents’ Engagement With Unhealthy Food And Beverage Brands On Social Media
Emergency Department Visits For Sport And Recreational Activities
3D Bioprinting Of A Vascularized And Perfusable Skin Graft Using Human Keratinocytes
Jointly Optimized Microscope Hardware For Accurate Image Classification Read More
AVAILABLE RESOURCES ACCESSIBLE ELECTRONICALLY
Dialogue About The Workforce For Population Health Improvement
Economic Consequences Of Millennial Health
Driving Toward Age-Friendly Care For The Future Read More
WHY AN INSECT APOCALYPSE MATTERS
Mentions the enormous influence that insects have on all other plant and animal species, and how the application of ants’ traffic management skills can benefit humans. Read More
HOUSING DISCRIMINATION AND RACIAL CANCER DISPARITIES
Refers to how mortgage discrimination is associated with larger black‐to‐white cancer mortality disparities resulting from a tendency to reduce black home ownership and increase the likelihood of renting, which has a negative effect on the accumulation of home equity that limits resources available to offset the financial burden of cancer. Read More