Hospitals Not Big Medicare Fans

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Medicare Plan for Payments Irks Hospitals,” describes a predictable chaffing at the bit by hospitals regarding new requirements to make them more efficient and ensure a higher quality of care. President Obama’s healthcare plan will use a new statistic, “Medicare spending per beneficiary,” to determine payment rates, giving a higher percentage to hospitals with the best and most efficient treatment of patients.

The contention raised concerns a provision to track spending on patients for up to 90 days after they leave the hospital. Hospitals claims they have little-to-no control over this time period, and it is unfair for them to be held accountable for it. The reason for the inclusion of this parameter is to encourage better coordination between hospitals and physicians.

In my opinion, the important thing is to establish any sort of payment formula, and it can always be adjusted subsequent to application, if necessary. I’m pretty sure that hospitals would find some other reason to object to this general requirement because, in effect, they don’t like it in the first place.

The idea of giving hospitals “performance scores” is a good one because it makes some attempt to hold off runaway healthcare costs. Again, the important thing is we’re doing something; the details can always be refined.