This paper studies the efficiency effects of physician fees when the insurer (possibly the government) pays a fee for each procedure, and the doctor may supplement the fee by an extra charge to the patient, a practice...
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This paper studies the efficiency effects of physician fees when the insurer (possibly the government) pays a fee for each procedure, and the doctor may supplement the fee by an extra charge to the patient, a practice known as 'balance billing.' Monopolistically competitive physicians can discriminate among patients on the basis of both price and quality. Equilibria with and without balance billing are compared. The paper analyzes and recommends a new fee policy, a form of payer 'fee discrimination.'
Data from a sample of clinicians are examined to study the relationship of the lower socio-economic client and therapist. Therapist practice variables are regressed on variables measuring client income and contrasting...
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Data from a sample of clinicians are examined to study the relationship of the lower socio-economic client and therapist. Therapist practice variables are regressed on variables measuring client income and contrasting client's use of Medicaid with the use of private insurance or out-of-pocket funds. It is found that therapist practice variables can predict a significant proportion of the variance of these criterion variables. These relationships and their implications for the therapeutic needs of indigent clients with less severely impaired conditions are discussed.
This paper analyzes the role of interhospital nonprice competition in Medicare's Prospective Payment System. Competition can play an important role both by increasing quality and reducing managerial slack. The qua...
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This paper analyzes the role of interhospital nonprice competition in Medicare's Prospective Payment System. Competition can play an important role both by increasing quality and reducing managerial slack. The quality-enhancing aspect of competition can be amplified through reimbursement of a proportion of incurred cost. As competition intensifies, the optimal degree of cost sharing (subsidy) falls.
Within the framework of a Long Term Care--HMO, a series of innovative financing mechanisms are proposed to encourage efficiency, reduce cost increases and promote the quality of long term care. Competitive bidding is ...
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Within the framework of a Long Term Care--HMO, a series of innovative financing mechanisms are proposed to encourage efficiency, reduce cost increases and promote the quality of long term care. Competitive bidding is used to set prices for long term care. Based upon these competitively set prices, HMO enrollees are given long term care vouchers with which to purchase care. Cost savings, arising from choices of care less expensive than the value of the voucher, are shared with the enrollee and the case management team. Incentive payments to this team are made only after a quality of care review. A portion of the payment to the long term care provider is set aside as a quality assurance withhold. If quality of care is inadequate, the withhold is forfeit.
In African health sectors, the importance of protecting the very poor has been underscored by increased reliance on user fees to help finance services. This paper presents a conceptual framework for understanding the ...
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In African health sectors, the importance of protecting the very poor has been underscored by increased reliance on user fees to help finance services. This paper presents a conceptual framework for understanding the role means testing can play in promoting equity under health care cost recovery. Means testing is placed in the broader context of targeting and contrasted with other mechanisms. Criteria for evaluating outcomes are established and used to analyze previous means testing experience in Africa. A survey of experience finds a general pattern of informal, low-accuracy, low-cost means testing in Africa. Detailed household data from a recent cost recovery experiment in Niger, West Africa, provides an unusual opportunity to observe outcomes of a characteristically informal means testing system. Findings from Niger suggest that achieving both the revenue raising and equity potential of cost recovery in sub-Saharan Africa will require finding ways to improve informal means testing processes.
Healthcare organizations need critical performance measures if they are to lead, manage, and operate effectively. Traditional financial measures or report cards on patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes are insuff...
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Healthcare organizations need critical performance measures if they are to lead, manage, and operate effectively. Traditional financial measures or report cards on patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes are insufficient, however. Value-based cost management directly links cost accounting, processes, clinical outcomes, and patient and employee satisfaction through organizational, work environment, and financial relations measures. These measures address three levels of performance: strategic, diagnostic, and operational. Their linkages identify value in three areas: business-related financial and operational measures;employee-related measures such as those related to satisfaction and well-being;and learning and patient-related measures linked to clinical outcomes, satisfaction, and population.
The traditional view of hospital competition has posited that hospitals compete primarily along 'quality' dimensions, in the form of fancy equipment to attract admitting physicians and pleasant surroundings to...
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The traditional view of hospital competition has posited that hospitals compete primarily along 'quality' dimensions, in the form of fancy equipment to attract admitting physicians and pleasant surroundings to entice patients. Price competition among hospitals is thought to be non-existent. This paper estimates the effects of various hospital market characteristics on hospital prices and expenses in an attempt to determine the form of hospital competition. The results suggest that both price and quality competition are greater in markets that are less concentrated, although the net effect of the two on prices is insignificant. It appears, therefore, that, despite important distortions, hospital markets are not immune to standard competitive forces.
This paper hypothesizes that the Medicaid reimbursement payment discourages quality nursing home care in markets with excess demand. It further shows that an increase in the prospective payment or an increase in the r...
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This paper hypothesizes that the Medicaid reimbursement payment discourages quality nursing home care in markets with excess demand. It further shows that an increase in the prospective payment or an increase in the return on capital portion of a retrospective cost-plus payment decreases the quality provided when there is excess demand. Finally, it argues that excess demand destroys a costless signal of quality, namely, the degree of excess capacity in a home, making it more difficult for uninformed consumers to make accurate choices and resulting in markets exhibiting the characteristics of adverse selection. These hypotheses are tested using Wisconsin data.
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