Briefs
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2018 Health Care Cost and Utilization Report
Read more: 2018 Health Care Cost and Utilization ReportThe 2018 Health Care Cost and Utilization Report presents data on health care spending, utilization, and average prices from 2014 through 2018 for individuals under the age of 65 who receive health insurance coverage through an employer. The report draws on data from more than 2.5 billion medical and prescription drug claims for approximately 40…
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What if Price Transparency Reduced Commercial Price Variation?
Read more: What if Price Transparency Reduced Commercial Price Variation?As previous reports have indicated, there is widespread price variation in the U.S. commercial health care system. Many studies have shown that prices are dramatically different not only across geographies, but they vary substantially even within the same market for the same service. For example, we found that prices for the same blood tests could…
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CMS-specified shoppable services accounted for 12% of 2017 health care spending among individuals with employer-sponsored insurance
Tags: Commercially Insured, Inpatient Spending, Out-of-Pocket, Outpatient Spending, Shoppable Services, Utilization
Read more: CMS-specified shoppable services accounted for 12% of 2017 health care spending among individuals with employer-sponsored insuranceIn response to high and growing health care spending, policymakers have proposed improving price transparency as a solution. Several such proposals rely on consumers taking action on publicly available information for shoppable services – generally, non-emergency services that a person could choose more deliberately. In 2021, hospitals will be required to display, in a consumer-friendly manner,…
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International comparisons of health care prices from the 2017 iFHP survey
Tags: Administered Drugs, Commercially Insured, Drug Spending, Inpatient Spending, Outpatient Spending, PricesRead more: International comparisons of health care prices from the 2017 iFHP surveyThe International Federation of Health Plans (iFHP), a CEO network of the global health insurance industry based in London, in partnership with the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) in the United States, and iFHP member companies in eight countries, today published the latest International Comparison of Health Prices Report. The report compares the median prices…
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JAMA Research Letter: Primary Care Spending in the Commercially Insured Population
Read more: JAMA Research Letter: Primary Care Spending in the Commercially Insured PopulationUsing HCCI’s data, we assessed the share among individuals younger than 65 years covered by employer-sponsored insurance from 2013 to 2017. We assessed primary care spending using 2 main definitions: a definition which included the total spending on services rendered by primary care clinicians (broad definition) and one where only CPT codes for specific services specified as…
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Comparing Post-Acute Care Use and First Site of Care Among Medicare Advantage Enrollees and Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries
Read more: Comparing Post-Acute Care Use and First Site of Care Among Medicare Advantage Enrollees and Medicare Fee-for-Service BeneficiariesUsing data from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), we examined trends in inpatient hospital admissions and post-acute care (PAC) utilization among Medicare Advantage (MA) and Fee-for-Service (FFS) beneficiaries. Specifically, we compared how frequently individuals in each group were discharged from the hospital, whether they had evidence…
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Health Services Research: Comparing Different Methods of Indexing Commercial Health Care Prices
Read more: Health Services Research: Comparing Different Methods of Indexing Commercial Health Care PricesThe methodology for HCCI’s Healthy Marketplace Index was published in a Methods Brief for Health Services Research. Abstract Objective: To compare different methods of indexing health care service prices for the commercially insured population across geographic markets. Data Sources: Health Care Cost Institute commercial claims data from 2012 to 2016. Study Design: We compare price indices computed using…
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How common is out-of-network billing?
Tags: Commercially Insured, Emergency Room, Geographic Variation, Mental Health and Substance Use, Out-of-Network, Surprise BillingRead more: How common is out-of-network billing?Congress is considering legislation to address “surprise bills”, which occur when a person visits an in-network facility, but receives services from a provider that is outside of their insurer’s network. Bills in both the House and Senate include provisions to determine a benchmark rate for out-of-network payments based on what in-network providers of the same…
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Air Ambulances – 10 Year Trends in Costs and Use
Tags: 10 Year Trend, Ambulance, Charges, Commercially Insured, Emergency Room, Outpatient Spending, Prices, Utilization
Read more: Air Ambulances – 10 Year Trends in Costs and UseAir ambulances are either fixed wing (airplane) or rotary wing (helicopter) aircraft used to transport people in often time-sensitive medical situations. Air ambulances have become a frequent topic in the news due to their high cost and propensity to lead to surprise bills. Our analysis shows that although air ambulances are not frequently used and…
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Comparing Average Rates for Select Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, and Radiology Services by Local Areas
Tags: Commercially Insured, Emergency Room, Geographic Variation, Medicare, Out-of-Network, Physician Spending
Read more: Comparing Average Rates for Select Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, and Radiology Services by Local AreasWhen a person unknowingly receives health care services from a provider that is outside of their insurer’s network, it gives rise to the potential for a “surprise bill”. Congress continues to consider legislation aimed at reducing the financial burden of “surprise bills” for patients. The approach approved by committees in both the House and Senate…