Primer Examines Health Care Delivery Payment Incentives; Statehealthfacts.org Updates Data

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice;  Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 20 Apr 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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"Health Quality, Delivery Improvements Will Lower Spiraling Costs," U.S. Federation of State Public Interest Research Groups: The brief argues that skewed payment incentives, which increase costs and diminish the quality of care, are the core problem in the U.S. health care delivery system. The document also finds more than $299 billion in health care spending that could be saved each year if the coordinated approach used by Utah's Intermountain Health System were implemented nationwide. The primer also includes a detailed list of policy recommendations for health care delivery problems (U.S. PIRG release, 4/16).

New data, statehealthfacts.org: The Kaiser Family Foundation's statehealthfacts.org Web site recently added new data on Medicaid and CHIP, managed care and health insurance, and providers and service use. New data include an analysis of Medicaid spending in fiscal year 2007, FY 2006 state-by-state enrollment data and disproportionate share hospital allotments for all states and the nation in FY 2009. In addition, the site has updated state-by-state information on small group health insurance markets, as well as data on other state health coverage protections. The site also added updated 2007 data on community hospitals for all states and the nation, 2008 information on nonfederal physicians, data on the estimated underserved population in areas with shortages of care as of September 2008, and the total number of dentists available in 2008 for all states and the nation (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 4/16).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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