Between improvements in reimbursement and increases in out-of-pocket spending by patients, physicians are seeing an increase in their payments.
Private insurer payments rose 2% for established patients between 2013 and 2014, while payments for new patients grew 1.4%, according to a study from athenahealth and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Established patients are paying 3.5% more, while new patients are paying about 3% more.
Meanwhile, the number of physicians working in practices wholly owned by physicians is declining. According to an American Medical Association survey, from 2012 to 2014, the percentage of doctors working in this setting dropped from just over 60% to nearly 57%, while the number of physicians working directly for hospitals or practices that are partially owned by hospitals grew from 29% to nearly 33%.
In the Medicaid arena, researchers are examining ways to reduce Medicaid churn – when a person earns enough to lose coverage only to rejoin the Medicaid roster when their income dips later in the year. The Commonwealth Fund found two models to be most effective – extending coverage until the end of the calendar year once a person is enrolled in Medicaid, which would reduce churn by 78%, or offering 12 months of continuous coverage, which would cut churn by 30%.
And finally, women are spending less on contraception thanks to the Affordable Care Act’s contraception coverage mandate. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that women are seeing a 20% reduction in their out-of-pocket spending since the mandate took effect.
To hear all that and more, listen to this week’s Policy & Practice Podcast .
gtwachtman@frontlinemedcom.com
On Twitter @PolicyPractice
