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By Objective Health via Laura Paden
Hospital Admissions
Commercially insured scheduled admissions are the largest contributor to inpatient margins for the average US hospital.
Recession Impact
During the US recession (2009-2011), volumes in this segment declined. There were two primary drivers of this decline.
- First, commercial insurance coverage decreased, stemming from unemployment and underemployment. This is expected to reverse and rebound as the economy recovers and as healthcare reform is implemented.
- Second, even among those who retained coverage, utilization of inpatient services decreased as patients delayed or forewent elective and preventative care. This was influenced by a range of economic factors, including reduced household incomes, higher co-pays, and a reduced ability to leave work for medical care, as well as factor unrelated to the recession, such as a shift to outpatient management of disease.
Assessment
It is unclear whether this second driver will diminish fully as the economy recovers. A slow recovery – or one that fails to see volumes to return to pre-recession levels – suggests that hospitals may need to refocus their strategies on service lines and segments that have historically been less attractive.
Conclusion
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Filed under: Health Economics, Healthcare Finance | Tagged: hospital admissions, Impact Of The U.S. Recession On Hospitals, Objective Health |
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Study: U.S. Docs Most Negative About Health System
A new survey, conducted between March and July 2012 by the Commonwealth Fund and published in Health Affairs, found US and German physicians the most negative about their health care systems: only 15 percent of US and 22 percent of German practitioners thought their systems worked well.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2012/11/13/hlthaff.2012.0884
The survey included physicians from the US and nine other countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Gunter
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