Research Headlines

PrintPrint
test

Slower Growth in National Health Care Spending

May 2012
HCFO

Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released data showing that total national health spending increased by less than 4 percent in 2009 and 2010, the slowest annual pace in five decades. Writing in the New York Times (“In Hopeful Sign, Health Spending is Flattening Out”), Annie Lowrey discusses factors contributing to this trend. Many experts point to the weak economy as a chief cause.

The Value of Employee Wellness Programs

April 2012
HCFO

Recently the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s effort to bring down high health care costs among Chicago city employees.

Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE): What Do We Know?

March 2012
HCFO

Interest in reducing costly and dangerous medical mistakes made in hospitals has grown in recent years, especially with new advances in health information technology (HIT). Journalist Ted Burnham, recently noted on the NPR: Health Blog that an estimated one in seven hospital patients will suffer some form of error in their care. Approximately one-third of those are prescription drug related.

Controlling Health Care Costs

February 2012
HCFO

Recently, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released a study showing the concentration of health care costs among a relatively small proportion of the population.Writing in The Atlantic Monthly and describing the study results, Jordan Weissmann notes that the top 5 percent of spenders accounted for about half of all health care spending in the United States and had an annual average of $35,829 in medical

Defining Essential Health Benefits

January 2012
HCFO

Among recent developments in the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Secretary of Health and Human Service’s decision to give states significant discretion in prescribing which benefits insurers must offer generated significant media attention. As described by Robert Pear in the New York Times, the ACA requir

Syndicate content