National News
Medical expenses have ‘very steep rate of growth’
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Spending on health care consumed an estimated 17 cents of every dollar spent last year in the United States, representing the largest one-year increase since the federal government started tracking the number in 1960.
Read more here.
ASC career “recession-proof”
Thursday, September 24th, 2009Based on information from the US Department of Labor and the US Census Bureau, author Lawrence Shatkin says in his recently published “150 Best Recession-Proof Jobs” that careers in Ambulatory Health Care Services are in the third position in the top 10, right behind Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation” and Hospitals, and ahead of Insurance…
AARP: 20-33% Medicare beneficiaries readmitted to hospitals
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009“Another serious problem we’ve been hearing about lately is that of hospitals discharging older patients without any follow-up, or ‘transitional,’ services. One of every five Medicare beneficiaries is readmitted within 30 days of discharge; and one of every three, within 90 days – often because of poor communication between patients, caregivers and healthcare providers.” –…
New Rand study on excess health costs
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009In 1960, U.S. business spent 1.2% of their payroll on health insurance. In 2006, they spent 9.9%. The Rand Corporation recently released a study that examined 37 industries from 1987 to 2005 and concluded that excess health care costs are causing significant job losses as well as revenue output losses for many American industries…
Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009Achieving comprehensive health reform has emerged as a leading priority of the President and Congress. President Obama has outlined eight principles for health reform, seeking to address not only the 45 million people who lack health insurance, but also rising health care costs and lack of quality. In Congress, a number of comprehensive reform proposals…
Hospitals Expected to Agree to $155 Billion in Healthcare Savings
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009Three press organizations wrote good pieces on the same subject. Here are the links to all of them.
The nation’s hospitals agreed last night to contribute $155 billion over 10 years toward the cost of insuring the 47 million Americans without health coverage, according to two industry sources..
Washington Post :http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/06/AR2009070604053.html
MedPAC Releases June Report to Congress
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is an independent congressional agency established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105–33) to advise the U.S. Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program.
To read to the rest of the report click the link below:
http://www.medpac.gov/documents/Jun09_EntireReport.pdf
ASC Growth Study – Sample Letters
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009Dear State ASC Association Leaders,
We need your help. As you know, KNG Health Consulting recently released a study entitled An Analysis of Recent Growth of Ambulatory Surgical Centers. This study demonstrates the importance of ASCs in constraining the cost of health care. In particular, it shows that the savings that ASCs…
ASC Growth Study June 2009
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009Study Counters Assertion That Physician Ownership Drives Up Utilization.
ASC Growth Study Press Release
Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) play a pivotal role in moving services into less expensive yet clinically appropriate settings, concludes a study issued today by the independent health economics and policy firm KNG Health Consulting. Other key findings from…