PANEL ADVISES MEDICARE FREEZE FOR HOSPITALS.Byline: Robert Pear The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times A federal advisory panel has decided to recommend that Congress freeze Medicare payments Noun 1. medicare payment - a check reimbursing an aged person for the expenses of health care medicare check bank check, check, cheque - a written order directing a bank to pay money; "he paid all his bills by check" to hospitals at their current levels next year. It would be the first time in the history of the program that hospitals have not received an increase. In approving the recommendation, the panel said hospitals had effectively controlled their costs, so existing Medicare payment rates were generally adequate. The chairman of the panel, Professor Joseph Newhouse of Harvard, said in an interview that payment rates could be kept level next year without harming the quality of health care or access to care for beneficiaries. Medicare Medicare, national health insurance program in the United States for persons aged 65 and over and the disabled. It was established in 1965 with passage of the Social Security Amendments and is now run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. finances care for 38 million people who are elderly or disabled. Payments to hospitals totaled $84 billion last year, or 44 percent of all Medicare spending. The federal advisory panel, the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission, voted last week to recommend a ``zero update'' - no change - in Medicare payment rates for hospitals. Congress pays close attention to the panel's advice, often providing less money but rarely more than it suggests. The unexpected recommendation offers President Clinton and Congress a relatively easy way to reduce the federal budget deficit and shore up the Medicare trust fund that pays hospital bills. Carmela Coyle, a vice president of the American Hospital Association American Hospital Association (AHA), n.pr a nonprofit national organization of individuals, institutions, and organizations engaged in direct patient care. The association works to promote the improvement of health care services. , said: ``We are surprised that the commission recommended no increase at all in Medicare payment amounts. It's unprecedented. Hospitals have become more efficient. We've kept down costs for two or three years in a row. There have been real cuts in the cost of treating Medicare patients. But how long can these cost reductions be sustained?'' The recommendation from the federal advisory panel coincides with new evidence showing how inflation has been squeezed from the health care industry. The cost of medical care, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, rose last year by just 3 percent, the smallest amount in three decades. By contrast, the price index for all items increased 3.3 percent. It was the first time since 1980 that medical prices rose less than the overall index, which seeks to measure changes in the prices paid by consumers for a fixed market basket market basket n. 1. A grocery cart. 2. A group of products or services in a specific market, especially when considered in terms of its fluctuating cost in determining a consumer price index: of goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the "good" is a "bad"). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax. . While the government data show that medical prices are leveling off, some economists say they are actually declining. ``For example,'' said Dahlia dahlia (däl`yə, dăl`–) [for Anders Dahl, 1751–89, Swedish botanist and pupil of Linnaeus], any plant of the genus Dahlia Remler, a health economist at Tulane University History Founding/early history The University dates from 1834 as the Medical College of Louisiana.<ref name="facts" /> With the addition of a law department, it became The University of Louisiana in New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded , ``the price you have to pay for extending your life after a heart attack is not rising as fast as the price of other goods in the economy like food, clothing and housing. In the last 15 years the price of what we care about - the price of having our health improved when we are sick - has gone down in real terms.'' Since 1984, hospitals have received a fixed amount of money for each Medicare patient they treat. |
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