Your heart attack bill: $3,300 in Arkansas, $92,000 in California

[mrplunkey]

It's interesting what the media pick up on versus what they discard.

The real scandal in health care reimbursement is the wage index. It's a payment system that modifies 68% of the money given to hospitals (presumably the wage component) based supposedly on the relative labor rates of different geographies. Are those wage rates set by the Bureau of Labor Statistics? Nope -- they're based on the last two years of costs reported by the specific hospital.

So hospitals with a wage index greater than 1.0 have learned to run-up their costs to drive their wage indexes larger. And hospitals with lower wage indexes get driven out of business because they can't keep firing people as fast as the high index hospitals can run-up costs.

It's a system based on pay for non-performance -- our government at its finest.

 

[Mr. dB]

It's interesting what the media pick up on versus what they discard.

The real scandal in health care reimbursement is the wage index. It's a payment system that modifies 68% of the money given to hospitals (presumably the wage component) based supposedly on the relative labor rates of different geographies. Are those wage rates set by the Bureau of Labor Statistics? Nope -- they're based on the last two years of costs reported by the specific hospital.

So hospitals with a wage index greater than 1.0 have learned to run-up their costs to drive their wage indexes larger. And hospitals with lower wage indexes get driven out of business because they can't keep firing people as fast as the high index hospitals can run-up costs.

It's a system based on pay for non-performance -- our government at its finest.

Why are you blaming this on government?

 

[mrplunkey]

Why are you blaming this on government?

The government (CMS specifically) administers the wage index process and administers the payment.

Even the government's own Medicare Payment Advisory Board (MedPac) analyzed the situation a few years ago and told CMS that they were screwing it up.

So who other than government should we blame it on?

 

[gjohnson5]

Those crazy numbers are just a side-effect of how hospitals mark-up bills and charge insurance companies.

I agree with you for once.
I had a doctor once who said he HATED insurance companies despite that it was his main source of revenue.

 

[mistaballoonhands]

Nobody likes ins co's. I don't even like my wife.

 

[jdynasty]

nobody likes ins co's. i don't even like my wife.

lol!

 

[PICK3]

It's interesting what the media pick up on versus what they discard.

The real scandal in health care reimbursement is the wage index. It's a payment system that modifies 68% of the money given to hospitals (presumably the wage component) based supposedly on the relative labor rates of different geographies. Are those wage rates set by the Bureau of Labor Statistics? Nope -- they're based on the last two years of costs reported by the specific hospital.

So hospitals with a wage index greater than 1.0 have learned to run-up their costs to drive their wage indexes larger. And hospitals with lower wage indexes get driven out of business because they can't keep firing people as fast as the high index hospitals can run-up costs.

It's a system based on pay for non-performance -- our government at its finest.

I will have all of my future DRE bills posted directly to your account


m'kay?

 

[mrplunkey]

I will have all of my future DRE bills posted directly to your account


m'kay?

No, butt I'd consider shelling out $$$ for your o-ring rejuvenation.

 

[PICK3]

No, butt I'd consider shelling out $$$ for your o-ring rejuvenation.

thxs


butt no homo though, right?

 

[mrplunkey]

thxs


butt no homo though, right?

It's knot gay since we don't high five afterwards.