A report from Dartmouth Atlas found a weak relationship between the number of primary care doctors in an area and patients access to quality of care. The conclusion of the study is led to different interpretations. One is that health care should be better organized and therefore, greater quality and access of care with the same number of doctors.
President Obama proposed to expand the research and development tax credit by 20 percent permanently. The proposed tax credit would help to study and develop medicines. This would positively impact the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries.
Large hospitals under the American Hospital Association are lobbying in hopes to allow them to apply for several incentive payments for adopting electronic health records. The regulations that passed in July only allow large hospitals to apply for one incentive payment. They argue that this goes against the intent to treat all hospitals equally.
By 2014, the individual mandate will require health insurance. This will cause a shift in the demand for services. Around 16 million people will buy health insurance in 2014 and will increase to 30 million by 2019. The study conducted by CMS found that health care costs will rise as more gain insurance. Costs are expected to reach $4.6 trillion by 2019 from the $2.6 trillion in 2010, a three percent increase of the GDP. Additional costs include $2.4 billion to administer at the federal level and $37.7 billion at the state level.
A study shows that about 5 million eligible children were not enrolled in health insurance programs such as Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The study also shows the 39 percent of those children live in three states: California, Texas and Florida. The study recommends focusing efforts in these areas in order to spread awareness to find these children and enroll them into programs. The study also recommends automatic enrollment.
Small businesses saw a profit margin that increased by 5.13%. However, sales are down by 6.46%. This means that that this success is not attributed to revenue as sales are down. Instead, the profits are attributed to pay reductions, outsourcing, limited travel and less marketing.
Many community and independent hospitals around the country are struggling financially. They struggle with staff lay offs, service cuts, bank loans and lack of discounts from providers because they are not a part of a system. However, they are staying afloat through staff cuts, aid, and local patients.
Spending on health care is set to moderately increase. The study shows that health care spending will increase to almost 20 percent of the economy in 2010. Now health care spending accounts for 17 percent. In 2019, Americans, per person a year, will spend an average of $13,652 on health care versus the $13,387 per person a year without the law.
Health insurers have filed for premium increases with state regulators. The requested increases range from 1%-9% and health insurers claim are a direct result of the health care reform law as the rise in premiums will cover extra benefits the law requires. Mainly, premium increases will affect individual and small business plans.
A study released by Health Affairs Journal details the waste in the health care system. The study showed that more than half of the 354 million doctor’s visits each year for acute medical attention are not made with the primary care physician and more than ¼ of patients seeking acute care go to the emergency room. The study addresses the problem of improving primary care when already half of those insured do not use such care?
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