AXIOS: ER doctors’ pay raises outpace other specialists

By Caitlin Owens, January 15, 2020 Emergency doctors — which are at the center of the surprise billing debate — saw their compensation go up more than any other physician specialty between 2013 and 2017. Why it matters: This translates into higher health care costs, which we all pay for through our taxes, premiums and out-of-pocket spending. By […]

KFF: How has U.S. spending on healthcare changed over time?

By Rabah Kamal, Daniel McDermott, and Cynthia Cox December 20, 2019 The Quarterly Services Survey provides to most up-to-date look at national health spending, though it does not include spending on prescription drugs, medical equipment, and other health-related expenses that are not considered services. The most recent six quarters have seen somewhat stable growth in […]

WSJ: The Hidden System That Explains How Your Doctor Makes Referrals

By Anna Wilde Mathews and Melanie Evans,  December 27, 2018 Phoebe Putney Health System doesn’t want its doctors to send business to competitors. If they do, Phoebe makes sure their bosses know about it. Doctors working for the Albany, Ga.-based hospital system’s affiliated physician group get regular reports breaking down their referrals to specialists or […]

WSJ: Hospitals Merged. Quality Didn’t Improve.

By Melanie Evans, January 1, 2020 The quality of care at hospitals acquired during a recent wave of deal making got worse or stayed the same, new research found The quality of care at hospitals acquired during a recent wave of deal making got worse or stayed the same, new research found, a blow to […]

NPR: For Her Head Cold, Insurer Coughed Up $25,865

By Richard Harris December 23, 2019 Alexa Kasdan had a cold and a sore throat. The 40-year-old public policy consultant from Brooklyn, N.Y., didn’t want her upcoming vacation trip ruined by strep throat. So after it had lingered for more than a week, she decided to get it checked out. Kasdan visited her primary care […]

ProPublica: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested

By Lizzie Presser October 16, 2019 Welcome to Coffeyville, Kansas, where the judge has no law degree, debt collectors get a cut of the bail, and Americans are watching their lives — and liberty — disappear in the pursuit of medical debt collection. ON THE LAST TUESDAY of July, Tres Biggs stepped into the courthouse in […]

The Hill: U.S. spent $1 trillion on hospitals in 2018, report finds

BY NATHANIEL WEIXEL – 12/05/19 © iStock The U.S. spent more than $1 trillion on hospitals in 2018, the largest percentage of all health spending, according to a new government analysis of health spending released Thursday. The study from the nonpartisan actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) found $1.2 trillion, or 33 percent of health […]

Reuters: Hospital sticker prices can rise faster than inflation

By Lisa Rapaport U.S. hospitals’ sticker prices for two common sources of surprise medical bills have climbed far faster than economic inflation, a new study suggests. Researchers focused on so-called chargemaster rates, or sticker prices, for two services that are often the source of surprise medical bills for patients – emergency medicine and anesthesiology. Patients […]

NPR: The Air Ambulance Billed More Than The Lung Transplant Surgeon

By Anna Almendrala November 6, 2018 Before his double-lung transplant, Tom Saputo thought he had anticipated every possible outcome. But after the surgery, he wasn’t prepared for the price of the 27-mile air ambulance flight from a hospital in Thousand Oaks, Calif., to UCLA Medical Center — which cost more than the lifesaving operation itself. […]