Tuesday, April 19, 2022 | The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Dear John, A new Health Affairs study investigated variation in hospital prices paid by private health plans.
Private Health Plan Hospital Prices
In the April edition of Health Affairs, Zachary Levinson and colleagues add to the literature on hospital price variation.
Their study uses data from the Healthcare Provider Cost Reporting Information System to determine that commercial-to-Medicare price ratios have been relatively stable, increasing 7 percentage points from 2012 to 2019.
The overall trend masks significant variation by hospital referral region (HRR).
“Although prior work has documented substantial variation in commercial prices across the US in a given year, we found that there was a large amount of geographic variation in price growth as well,” the authors explain.
The authors conclude that restraining the growth of commercial prices has the potential to achieve significant reductions in health care spending.
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Elsewhere At Health Affairs
In Health Affairs Forefront, Scott Landes and Margaret Turk write about postmortem diagnostic overshadowing—the inaccurate reporting of intellectual and developmental disabilities on death certificates.
The authors argue that improving the accuracy of death certificate data could benefit public health and reduce disparity by addressing deaths due to preventable premature mortality.
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Katie Keith Throws An ACA Birthday Party
Listen to Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interview Katie Keith on the latest Affordable Care Act news and explore the law's successes, shortcomings, and unfinished work.
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Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking
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Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.
