Impact of Critical Access Hospital Conversion on Beneficiary Liability

ABSTRACT: Context: While the Medicare Critical Access Hospital (CAH) program has improved the financial viability of small rural hospitals and enhanced access to care in rural communities, the program puts beneficiaries at risk for paying a larger share of the cost of services covered under the Medicare part B benefit. Purpose: This paper examines the impact of hospital conversion to CAH status on beneficiary out‐of‐pocket coinsurance payments for hospital outpatient services. Methods: The study is based on a retrospective observational design using administrative data from Medicare hospital cost reports and fee‐for‐service beneficiary claims from 1999 to 2003. The study compares changes in beneficiary co‐payments before versus after CAH conversion with payment trends among small rural non‐converting hospitals over the same period. Findings: Conversion to CAH status is associated with an increase in beneficiary coinsurance payments per outpatient visit of $17.19, equivalent to 34% of the sample average. However, CAH designation had no significant effect on the share of outpatient costs paid by the beneficiary. Most of the increase in beneficiary liability associated with conversion is attributable to the provision of more services per outpatient visit. Conclusions: While this and other studies show that conversion to CAH status results in more intensive outpatient care, CAH conversion does not appear to inadvertently create financial barriers to accessing ambulatory services in remote rural communities by forcing beneficiaries to pay a higher share of their Medicare part B costs.     

Mayo Clinic employees responded to new requirements for cost sharing by reducing possibly unneeded health services use

Some health plans have experimented with increasing consumer cost sharing, on the theory that consumers will use less unnecessary health care if they are expected to bear some of the financial responsibility for it. However, it is unclear whether the resulting decrease in use is sustained beyond one or two years. In 2004 Mayo Clinic's self-funded health plan increased cost sharing for its employees and their dependents for specialty care visits (adding a $25 copayment to the high-premium option) and other services such as imaging, testing, and outpatient procedures (adding 10 or 20?percent coinsurance, depending on the option). The plan also removed all cost sharing for visits to primary care providers and for preventive services such as colorectal screening and mammography. The result was large decreases in the use of diagnostic testing and outpatient procedures that were sustained for four years, and an immediate decrease in the use of imaging that later rebounded (possibly to levels below the expected trend). Beneficiaries decreased visits to specialists but did not make greater use of primary care services. These results suggest that implementing relatively low levels of cost sharing can lead to a long-term decrease in utilization.     

关于成本分摊政策变化对参保者影响的系统综述

目的：分析成本分摊政策变化对参保者的影响,为我国医疗保障制度改革提供科学证据。方法：利用系统综述方法,检索国内外所有对医疗保险制度实施成本分摊政策的相关研究,由系统综述人员对这些研究进行筛选和数据提取,利用框架分析法对纳入研究进行整合。结果：纳入48篇文献,共付额度、共付保险率、起付线和封顶线以及综合成本分摊方法对不同类型健康保障制度下,不同参保者卫生服务、药物利用以及经济负担的影响不同。结论与建议：成本分摊政策是控制医疗费用的手段;不同医疗保险制度下成本分摊政策对参保者卫生服务利用的影响存在差异;不同类型的卫生服务对成本分摊政策敏感程度不同。我国可以利用成本分摊机制控制医疗总费用,但要考虑其对不同经济状况参保者的影响以及对不同卫生服务的价格弹性,同时关注弱势群体的卫生服务需求。     

Effects of Copayment in Long-Term Care Insurance on Long-Term Care and Medical Care Expenditure

ObjectiveThis study aimed to clarify the difference in (1) long-term care (LTC) usage and expenditure and (2) medical care service usage and expenditure before and after the change in the copayment limit for qualifying individuals from 10% to 20%.Setting and ParticipantsThis quasi-experimental longitudinal design used the database from 1 prefecture of Japan that included 570,434 person-month records of 23,879 insured individuals (in August 2014) who used LTC services between August 2014 and July 2015 and were aged 65 years and older on August 1, 2014.MethodsWe conducted difference-in-difference estimations to compare “before” and “after” outcome differences between insured individuals whose LTC copayment increased to 20% and those whose copayment remained at 10%. Sex, age, Care Needs Level, subsidy, and public assistance were adjusted in the models, along with robustness checks.ResultsDifferences in both insurer's payment and insured's copayment indicated statistical significance between those whose copayment increased and those whose copayment did not increase. We found no significant difference in the number of minutes of home care service use, days of facility care service use, and LTC expenditures among those with copayment increases as well as those with no increase in copayment following the insured's copayment increase policy implementation. In contrast, the policy implementation caused significant differences in the number of days of hospitalization, medical care expenditures, and total expenditures.Conclusions and ImplicationsThe increase in insured individuals' copayment decreased LTC insurer's payment. However, total LTC expenditure increased over time although the increase trend slowed down in the treatment group after the copayment increase policy implemented. Besides, medical care expenditure increased consistently among insured individuals whose copayment increased. As there appears to be a “balloon effect” between LTC and medical care services, it is important to discuss the medical care system while considering the LTC insurance system comprehensively.     

Adverse drug events in U.S. adult ambulatory medical care

Objective. To estimate the incidence of adverse drug events (ADEs) associated with health care visits among U.S. adults across all ambulatory settings. Data Source. We analyzed data from two nationally representative probability sample surveys: the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the National Hospital and Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. From 2005 to 2007, the presence of an ADE was specifically defined, requested, and recorded in these surveys. Study Design. Secondary data analysis. Principal Findings. An estimated 13.5 million ADE‐related visits occurred between 2005 and 2007 (0.5 percent of all visits), the large majority (72 percent) occurring in outpatient practice settings, and the remaining in emergency departments. Older patients (age ≥65 years) had the highest age‐specific ADE rate, 3.8 ADEs per 10,000 persons per year. In adjusted analyses of outpatient visits, there was an increased odds of an ADE‐related visit with increased medication burden (odds ratio [OR] for six to eight medications compared with no medications, OR 3.83 [2.20, 6.65]), and increased odds of ADEs associated with primary care visits compared with specialty visits (OR 2.22 [1.70, 2.89]). Conclusions. Approximately 4.5 million ambulatory visits related to ADEs occur each year, the majority of these in outpatient office practices. A greater focus on ADE prevention and detection is warranted among patients receiving multiple medications in primary care practices.     

Effects of cost sharing on long-term care service utilization among home-dwelling older adults in Japan

ObjectivesThis study aimed to examine the effect of increased cost sharing on long-term care (LTC) service utilization among home-dwelling older adults, using nationwide long-term care insurance (LTCI) claims data in Japan.MethodsIn August 2015, the coinsurance rate for Japanese LTCI increased from 10% to 20% for higher-income beneficiaries. We analyzed 27,911,076 person-month observations between April 2015 and July 2016 from 1,983,163 home-dwelling older adults (aged ≥ 65 years). We employed a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effect of the increased coinsurance rate on overall LTC service utilization and for each of the four main service subcategories. The control group comprised those whose coinsurance rates remained at 10%.ResultsThe treatment group, whose coinsurance rate increased, accounted for 9.6% of all participants. The raised coinsurance rate caused statistically significant reductions of 0.46% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.36%, 0.56%) and $25.7 (95% CI: $23.7, $27.8) in the percentage of utilization of LTC services and total monthly LTC expenditures per person, respectively. Service utilization decreased in each of the four service subcategories.ConclusionsThe increased coinsurance rate resulted in statistically significant but small reductions in LTC service utilization overall and in each service type among higher-income home-dwelling beneficiaries. Requiring more cost sharing from higher-income individuals may alleviate the fiscal burden on LTC systems without serious reductions in service utilization.     

Does better disease management in primary care reduce hospital costs? Evidence from English primary care

We apply cross-sectional and panel data methods to a database of 5 million patients in 8000 English general practices to examine whether better primary care management of 10 chronic diseases is associated with reduced hospital costs. We find that only primary care performance in stroke care is associated with lower hospital costs. Our results suggest that the 10% improvement in the general practice quality of stroke care between 2004/5 and 2007/8 reduced 2007/8 hospital expenditure by about £130 million in England. The cost savings are due mainly to reductions in emergency admissions and outpatient visits, rather than to lower costs for patients treated in hospital or to reductions in elective admissions.     

基本药物制度实施后村卫生室门诊服务变化比较——基于东、中、西部6省的抽样调查

目的：比较基本药物制度实施前后东、中、西部6省村卫生室门急诊人次、次均药品费用和次均医药总费用的变化。方法：收集6省130个村卫生室2009--2011年连续36个月的门诊服务监测数据,使用分段时间序列模型进行回归分析。结果：2011年与2009年相比,6省村卫生室门诊次均药品费用、次均医药总费用均下降,降幅约在15％-70％之间,东部的浙江和中部的安徽降幅最大;门急诊人次变化的瞬时水平和长期趋势各省均不相同。结论：国家基本药物制度在村卫生室实施后,各省村卫生室次均药品费用和次均医药总费用的下降幅度存在较大差异,门急诊人次的变化也不尽相同,可能与补偿模式、“新农合”报销范围、乡村一体化管理实施进度、基本药物配备情况、乡村医生待遇等多种因素有关。     

Impact of a national medical fee schedule revision on the cessation of physician home visits among older patients in Tokyo: A retrospective study

As Japan's population continues to age rapidly, the national government has implemented several measures to improve the efficiency of healthcare services and to control rising medical expenses for older patients. One such measure was the revision of the medical fee schedule for physician home visits in April 2014, in which eligibility for these visits was restricted to patients who are unable to visit outpatient clinics without assistance. Through an investigation of patients who were receiving physician home visits in Tokyo, this study examines whether this fee schedule revision resulted in an increase in patients who transitioned from home visits to outpatient care. In a retrospective analysis of health insurance claims data, we examined 80,914 Tokyo residents aged 75 years or older who had received at least one physician home visit between January and May 2014. The study period was divided into four periods (January–February, February–March, March–April, and April–May), and we examined the number of patients receiving home visits in the index month of each period who subsequently transitioned to outpatient care in the following month. Potential factors associated with this transition to outpatient care were examined using a generalised estimating equation. The March–April period that included the fee schedule revision was significantly associated with a higher number of patients who transitioned from home visits in the index month to outpatient care in the following month (odds ratio: 4.46, p < 0.001) than the other periods. In addition, patients receiving home visits at residential facilities were more likely to transition to outpatient care (odds ratio: 10.40, p < 0.001). These findings indicate that the fee schedule revision resulted in an increase in patients who ceased physician home visits and began visiting outpatient clinics for treatment.     

Implications of Utilization Shifts on Medical‐care Price Measurement

The medical‐care sector often experiences changes in medical protocols and technologies that cause shifts in treatments. However, the commonly used medical‐care price indexes reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics hold the mix of medical services fixed. In contrast, episode expenditure indexes, advocated by many health economists, track the full cost of disease treatment, even as treatments shift across service categories (e.g., inpatient to outpatient hospital). In our data, we find that these two conceptually different measures of price growth show similar aggregate rates of inflation over the 2003–2007 period. Although aggregate trends are similar, we observe differences when looking at specific disease categories. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Economic Measurement of Medical Errors Using a Hospital Claims Database

ObjectiveThe primary objective of this study was to estimate the occurrence and costs of medical errors from the hospital perspective.MethodsMethods from a recent actuarial study of medical errors were used to identify medical injuries. A visit qualified as an injury visit if at least 1 of 97 injury groupings occurred at that visit, and the percentage of injuries caused by medical error was estimated. Visits with more than four injuries were removed from the population to avoid overestimation of cost. Population estimates were extrapolated from the Premier hospital database to all US acute care hospitals.ResultsThere were an estimated 161,655 medical errors in 2008 and 170,201 medical errors in 2009. Extrapolated to the entire US population, there were more than 4 million unique injury visits containing more than 1 million unique medical errors each year. This analysis estimated that the total annual cost of measurable medical errors in the United States was $985 million in 2008 and just over $1 billion in 2009. The median cost per error to hospitals was $892 for 2008 and rose to $939 in 2009. Nearly one third of all medical injuries were due to error in each year.ConclusionsMedical errors directly impact patient outcomes and hospitals’ profitability, especially since 2008 when Medicare stopped reimbursing hospitals for care related to certain preventable medical errors. Hospitals must rigorously analyze causes of medical errors and implement comprehensive preventative programs to reduce their occurrence as the financial burden of medical errors shifts to hospitals.     

Cost-sharing for emergency care and unfavorable clinical events: findings from the safety and financial ramifications of ED copayments study

Objective. To evaluate the effect of emergency department (ED) copayment levels on ED use and unfavorable clinical events. Data Source/Study Setting. Kaiser Permanente–Northern California (KPNC), a prepaid integrated delivery system. Study Design. In a quasi‐experimental longitudinal study with concurrent controls, we estimated rates of ED visits, hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths associated with higher ED copayments relative to no copayment, using Poisson random effects and proportional hazard models, controlling for patient characteristics. The study period began in January 1999; more than half of the population experienced an employer‐chosen increase in their ED copayment in January 2000. Data Collection/Extraction Methods. Using KPNC automated databases, the 2000 U.S. Census, and California state death certificates, we collected data on ED visits and unfavorable clinical events over a 36‐month period (January 1999 through December 2001) among 2,257,445 commercially insured and 261,091 Medicare insured health system members. Principal Findings. Among commercially insured subjects, ED visits decreased 12 percent with the $20–35 copayment (95 percent confidence interval [CI]: 11–13 percent), and 23 percent with the $50–100 copayment (95 percent CI: 23–24 percent) compared with no copayment. Hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths did not increase with copayments. Hospitalizations decreased 4 percent (95 percent CI: 2–6 percent) and 10 percent (95 percent CI: 7–13 percent) with ED copayments of $20–35 and $50–100, respectively, compared with no copayment. Among Medicare subjects, ED visits decreased by 4 percent (95 percent CI: 3–6 percent) with the $20–50 copayments compared with no copayment; unfavorable clinical events did not increase with copayments, e.g., hospitalizations were unchanged (95 percent CI: ?3 percent to +2 percent) with $20–50 ED copayments compared with no copayment. Conclusions. Relatively modest levels of patient cost‐sharing for ED care decreased ED visit rates without increasing the rate of unfavorable clinical events.     

Skin cancer has a large impact on our public hospitals but prevention programs continue to demonstrate strong economic credentials

Objectives: While skin cancer is still the most common cancer in Australia, important information gaps remain. This paper addresses two gaps: i) the cost impact on public hospitals; and ii) an up‐to‐date assessment of economic credentials for prevention. Methods: A prevalence‐based cost approach was undertaken in public hospitals in Victoria. Costs were estimated for inpatient admissions, using State service statistics, and outpatient services based on attendance at three hospitals in 2012–13. Cost‐effectiveness for prevention was estimated from ‘observed vs expected’ analysis, together with program expenditure data. Results: Combining inpatient and outpatient costs, total annual costs for Victoria were $48 million to $56 million. The SunSmart program is estimated to have prevented more than 43,000 skin cancers between 1988 and 2010, a net cost saving of $92 million. Skin cancer treatment in public hospitals ($9.20～$10.39 per head/year) was 30‐times current public funding in skin cancer prevention ($0.37 per head/year). Conclusions: At about $50 million per year for hospitals in Victoria alone, the cost burden of a largely preventable disease is substantial. Skin cancer prevention remains highly cost‐effective, yet underfunded. Implications for public health: Increased funding for skin cancer prevention must be kept high on the public health agenda. Hospitals would also benefit from being able to redirect resources to non‐preventable conditions.     

The demand for episodes of treatment in the health insurance experiment

This paper analyzes claims data from the RAND Insurance Experiment, which were grouped into episodes of treatment. The insurance plans in the experiment have coinsurance and a cap on out-of-pocket spending. Using new statistical techniques to adjust for the increased sickliness of those who exceed the cap, the effects of coinsurance on cost per episode and number of episodes are estimated. Cost sharing reduced the number of episodes but had little effect on cost per episode. People in the experiment responded myopically as their current insurance status changed through the year. The price elasticity of spending was about -0.2 throughout the range of coinsurance studied. When data permit it, the study of episodes complements analyses of annual medical spending by revealing more about how decisions to spend are made within the year.     

Visits to retail clinics grew fourfold from 2007 to 2009, although their share of overall outpatient visits remains low

Retail clinics have rapidly become a fixture of the US health care delivery landscape. We studied visits to retail clinics and found that they increased fourfold from 2007 to 2009, with an estimated 5.97?million retail clinic visits in 2009 alone. Compared with retail clinic patients in 2000-06, patients in 2007-09 were more likely to be age sixty-five or older (14.7?percent versus 7.5?percent). Preventive care-in particular, the influenza vaccine-was a larger component of care for patients at retail clinics in 2007-09, compared to patients in 2000-06 (47.5?percent versus 21.8?percent). Across all retail clinic visits, 44.4?percent in 2007-09 were on the weekend or during weekday hours when physician offices are typically closed. The rapid growth of retail clinics makes it clear that they are meeting a patient need. Convenience and after-hours accessibility are possible drivers of this growth. However, retail clinics make up a small share of overall visits in the outpatient setting, which include 117?million visits to emergency departments and 577?million visits to physician offices annually.     

A description of outpatient drug use in rural China: evidence of differences due to insurance coverage

This paper describes the effects of health financing systems (insurance) on outpatient drug use in rural China. 1320 outpatients were interviewed (exit interview) in the randomly selected county, township and village health care facilities in five counties in three provinces of central China. The interview was face to face. Questions were asked by a trained interviewer and were answered by patient him/herself. The main finding was that health insurance appeared to influence drug use in outpatient services. The average number of drugs per visit was 2·56 and drug expenditures per visit was 16·9 yuan. Between insured and uninsured (out‐of‐pocket) groups, there were significant differences in the number of drugs and drug expenditures per visit. The insured had a lower number of drugs and a higher drug expenditure per visit than the uninsured, implying the use of more expensive drugs per visit than the uninsured. There were also significant differences in the number of drugs and drug expenditures per visit between the types of insurance. One third of the drugs were anti‐infectives, most of which were penicillin, gentamycin and sulfonamides. The results imply that uninsured patients do not receive the same care as the insured do even if they have the same needs. The fee‐for‐service financing for hospitals and health insurance have changed health providers' and consumers' behaviour and resulted in the increase of medical expenditure. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Realigning Demand and Supply Side Incentives to Improve Primary Health Care Seeking in Rural China

China's recent and ambitious health care reform involves a shift from the reliance on markets to the reaffirmation of the central role of the state in the financing and provision of services. In collaboration with the Government of the Ningxia province, we examined the impact of two key features of the reform on health care utilisation using panel household data. The first policy change was a redesign of the rural insurance benefit package, with an emphasis on reorientating incentives away from inpatient towards outpatient care. The second policy change involved a shift from a fee‐for‐service payment method to a capitation budget with pay‐for‐performance amongst primary care providers. We find that the insurance intervention, in isolation, led to a 47% increase in the use of outpatient care at village clinics and greater intensity of treatment (e.g. injections). By contrast, the two interventions in combination showed no effect on health care use over and above that generated by the redesign of the insurance benefit package. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Moving beyond the typologies of managed care: the example of health plan predictors of screening mammography

OBJECTIVES: To develop a framework of factors to characterize health plans, to identify how plan characteristics were measured in a national survey, and to apply our findings to an analysis of the predictors of screening mammography. DATA SOURCE: The primary data were from the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. STUDY DESIGN: Women ages 40+, with private insurance, and no history of breast cancer were included in the study (N = 2,909). We used multivariate logistic regression to estimate mammography utilization in the past two years relative to health plan and demographic factors. Health plan measures included whether there is a defined provider network, whether coverage is restricted to a network, use of gatekeepers, level of cost containment, copayment and deductible amounts, coinsurance rate, and breadth of benefit coverage. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We found no significant difference in reported mammography utilization using a dichotomous comparison of individuals enrolled in managed care versus indemnity plans. However, women in health plans with a defined provider network were more likely to report having received a mammogram in the past two years than those without networks (adjusted OR= 1.21, 95 percent CI = 1.07-1.36), and women in gatekeeper plans were more likely to report receiving mammography than those without gatekeepers (adjusted OR = 1.18, 95 percent CI = 1.03-1.36). Restricted out-of-network coverage, use of cost containment, enrollee cost sharing, and breadth of benefit coverage did not appear to affect mammography use. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to examine the effect of individual health plan components on the utilization of health care, rather than use the traditional broader categorizations of managed versus nonmanaged care or simple health plan typologies.     

Copayment policy reforms and effective care utilization by patients with persistent asthma in Taiwan

ObjectivesReforms to the Taiwan National Health Insurance copayment scheme in 2005 imposed a notable increase in the cost of outpatient visits. This provided an ideal situation to determine whether such reforms lead to a reduction in the utilization of effective care by patients with persistent asthma.MethodsThis study applied the pretest-posttest non-randomized control group design in our analysis of nationwide claims data (2002 to 2010). Based on propensity score matching, the patients were divided into two groups, subject and not subject to copayment reform. Medication Management for People with Asthma measure was used to identify patients with persistent asthma and instances of effective care.ResultsMatching yielded a final panel of 7,890 individuals with persistent asthma (3,945 individuals in each cohort) eligible for the study. GEE analysis revealed that policy reforms had significant effects over the short-term (OR = 0.745, p < 0.05), medium-term (OR = 0.752, p < 0.01), and long-term (OR = 0.721, p < 0.01).ConclusionsReforms to copayment policy were significantly correlated with a reduction in the utilization of effective care by patients with persistent asthma over the short-, medium- and long-term. Government should develop implementation strategies aimed at protecting the economically disadvantaged patients.