RAND Research Topic: Health Care Financing

ACA Subsidies for Higher-Income Families Are Key to Enrolling More Americans

2021-03-01T20:30:00Z

The House Ways and Means Committee has proposed several insurance reforms in its emergency COVID-19 relief package, including increasing subsidizes and extending subsidies to people with higher incomes. The proposed combined approach is a far more efficient means of covering uninsured Americans than enhancing subsidies only for those who are currently eligible.

Impact of Policy Options for Reducing Hospital Prices Paid by Private Health Plans

2021-02-18T00:01:00Z

The authors analyze the spending impact of policy options to reduce hospital prices paid by private health plans, with various design choices and effectiveness levels for each approach.

Reducing Hospital Spending: Three Policy Options

2021-04-21T08:45:00Z

RAND researchers have estimated the effects of policy options to reduce hospital prices paid by private health plans, outlining design choices and effectiveness levels for each approach.

Barriers to Price and Quality Transparency in Health Care Markets

2021-04-19T09:00:00Z

RAND researchers gathered information on how health care prices are set, price variation in health care markets, barriers to price and quality transparency for consumers, and the extent to which price and quality information is used in marketing.

RAND Technical Expert Panel Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Contract Star Ratings, November 12, 2020 Meeting

2021-03-16T09:00:00Z

On November 12, 2020, the RAND Corporation convened a Technical Expert Panel (TEP) web meeting to gather input about social risk factors and approaches for ensuring accurate performance measurement.

RAND Technical Expert Panel Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Contract Star Ratings, November 19, 2020 Meeting

2021-03-16T09:00:00Z

On November 19, 2020, the RAND Corporation convened a Technical Expert Panel (TEP) web meeting to gather input about stratified reporting of performance and approaches to reduce disparities in Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Contracts.

10Plan, How Would It Affect Health Care Spending by Consumers and the Federal Government

2021-02-25T08:30:00Z

The 10Plan is a self-pay plan for individuals currently uninsured or covered by a private nongroup health insurance plan. The authors built a microsimulation model to estimate health care spending under both the status quo and the 10Plan.

Trends in Low-Value Health Service Use and Spending in the US Medicare Fee-for-Service Program, 2014-2018

2021-02-18T08:45:00Z

Among individuals with fee-for-service Medicare receiving any of 32 measured services, low-value care use and spending decreased marginally from 2014 to 2018.

Setting U.S. Hospital Prices Could Cut Overall Health Spending by Billions

2021-02-18T03:01:00Z

Price regulations face political obstacles and have been strongly opposed by medical providers. But setting prices for all commercial health care payers could reduce hospital spending by $61.9 billion to $236.6 billion a year if the rates were set at 100 to 150 percent of the amounts paid by Medicare.

Low-Value Care Among Medicare Recipients Drops Only Marginally Despite Effort to Curb Practices

2021-02-16T11:00:00Z

Examples of low-value health care include prescribing opioids for acute back pain and antibiotics for upper respiratory infections. Despite efforts to better educate clinicians and discourage wasteful care, spending on such services among Medicare recipients dropped only marginally from 2014 to 2018.

Increasing Price Transparency in Health Care

2021-02-16T08:15:00Z

RAND researchers examine current price transparency efforts and their features, describe barriers to more widespread availability and use of price information, and discuss possible ways to overcome those barriers.

Patterns of Postoperative Visits Among Medicare Fee-for-service Beneficiaries

2021-02-12T11:45:00Z

To describe patterns of postoperative visits reported for Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) patients.

Care Management Reduced Infant Mortality for Medicaid Managed Care Enrollees in Ohio

2021-02-12T11:15:00Z

The Ohio Department of Medicaid introduced requirements to be delivered by Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs). This study evaluated the impact of care management on reducing infant mortality in the largest Medicaid MCO in Ohio.

Using Claims-Based Estimates of Post-Operative Visits to Revalue Procedures with 10- and 90-Day Global Periods

2021-02-05T08:15:00Z

This report describes how CMS could use new claims-based data on post-operative visits to adjust the valuations of surgical procedures with 10- and 90-day global periods.

Responses to Comments on RAND Global Services Reports

2021-02-05T08:15:00Z

RAND researchers respond to comments on three earlier reports related to post-operative visits bundled into Medicare payments for many procedures.

Claims-Based Reporting of Post-Operative Visits for Procedures with 10- or 90-Day Global Periods

2021-02-05T08:00:00Z

The authors of this report summarize patterns of post-operative visits where Medicare bundles payment for post-operative care into payment for surgical procedures. The results suggest fewer visits occur than Medicare assumes in its payment rates.

The 10Plan: An Alternative Approach to Health Care Financing

2021-01-25T09:00:00Z

The 10Plan would require individuals to pay a copayment for each encounter but no premiums up front. They'd have Medicare rates, and could pay cash or borrow from the government at a low interest rate to pay for services. How would health care spending and federal costs change under the plan?

Variability in Case Durations for Common Surgical Procedures

2021-01-20T08:45:00Z

This is an exploratory study to quantify the facility-level variation in surgical case duration for common surgeries.

Quality of Quality Measurement

2020-12-31T09:15:00Z

Monte Carlo simulation was used to examine the accuracy of performance profiling as a function of statistical methodology, case volume, and the extent to which hospital or physician performance deviates from the average.

Measuring Public Preferences Between Health and Social Care Funding Options

2020-12-31T08:30:00Z

Additional funding will be needed to meet the growing demand for health and social care in the UK. What is the most acceptable way to raise it? Options range from taxation to mandatory insurance, voluntary insurance and user charges. We sought to analyse the preferences of the UK general public.