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Full-Text Articles in Health Law and Policy
Spending Medicare’S Dollars Wisely: Taking Aim At Hospitals’ Cultures Of Overtreatment, Jessica Mantel
Spending Medicare’S Dollars Wisely: Taking Aim At Hospitals’ Cultures Of Overtreatment, Jessica Mantel
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
With Medicare’s rising costs threatening the country’s fiscal health, policymakers have focused their attention on a primary cause of Medicare’s high price tag—the overtreatment of patients. Guided by professional norms that demand they do “everything possible” for their patients, physicians frequently order additional diagnostic tests, perform more procedures, utilize costly technologies, and provide more inpatient care. Much of this care, however, does not improve Medicare patients’ health, but only increases Medicare spending. Reducing the overtreatment of patients requires aligning physicians’ interests with the government’s goal of spending Medicare’s dollars wisely. Toward that end, recent Medicare payment reforms establish a range …
Increasing Consumer Power In The Grievance And Appeal Process For Medicare Hmo Enrollees, Kenneth J. Pippin
Increasing Consumer Power In The Grievance And Appeal Process For Medicare Hmo Enrollees, Kenneth J. Pippin
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Federal law requires that Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) provide Medicare beneficiaries with specific grievance and appeal rights for challenging adverse decisions of these organizations. The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) is charged with enforcing these regulations. Currently, however, HCFA contracts with HMOs, allowing them to enroll Medicare beneficiaries despite the fact that many of the statutory and regulatory requirements are ignored by the Medicare HMOs. This is problematic because the elderly Medicare population may not be able to independently and adequately challenge the HMO's denial of care or reimbursement. Because HCFA has been reluctant and …
Abusing The Patient: Medicare Fraud And Abuse And Hospital-Physician Incentive Plans, Kathryn A. Krecke
Abusing The Patient: Medicare Fraud And Abuse And Hospital-Physician Incentive Plans, Kathryn A. Krecke
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Part I provides a background discussion of the PPS, DRGs, and incentive plans. Part II focuses on the fraud and abuse provisions of the Medicare statute and argues that incentive plans violate the plain language · of the statute, which prohibits any knowing and willful remuneration for the inducement of referrals. Part III concentrates on the fraudulent and abusive practices that incentive plans encourage. The plans frustrate legislative intent because they encourage practices that subvert the cost-containment purposes of the PPS and have an adverse effect on patient care.
The Medicare Rx: Prospective Pricing To Effect Cost Containment, H. Lynda Kugel
The Medicare Rx: Prospective Pricing To Effect Cost Containment, H. Lynda Kugel
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note analyzes the impact of changing hospital reimbursement while maintaining charge-based reimbursement for physicians on hospital-physician relationships and on cost and quality of care. This Note contends that if the stated goals of redirecting incentives and containing costs are to be realized, physicians must be drawn into the revised reimbursement scheme. An indirect, aggregate approach is advocated to maintain the integrity of the physician-patient relationship and to avoid a direct financial impact upon the physician regarding patient care decisions. Part I will briefly examine the reasons for changing hospital reimbursement from retrospective cost-based reimbursement to prospective fixed rates. Part …