An overview of the changes, trends, and newsmakers from the past month
Several recent polls and the simmering political season have made June an exciting month in healthcare news. Healthcare costs, legal issues, and Paul Ryan’s proposal for a new direction all caught our attention—how about you?
Healthcare costs and payments:
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- Insights revealed in healthcare payments: Instamed released their Sixth Annual Trends in Healthcare Payments last week, highlighting consumers’ behaviors and pain points. One sign of growing consumerism? Ninety percent of consumers now want to know their payment responsibility up front.
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- Medical cost growth rate stays steady, pain still expected: In Medical Cost Trend: Behind the Numbers 2017, PwC found that medical growth rate was remaining at 6.5 percent, tempered by balancing forces of inflators and deflators. Despite this, there are still very real concerns about painful sacrifices in the near future.
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- US healthcare spending projected well under budget—more than just the great recession impacting spending: According to a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute, national health spending is projected to be $2.6 trillion under initial estimates for the period of 2014 through 2019.
Medicare insolvent sooner than expected: Medicare trustees believe the trust fund will be insolvent by 2028, rather than the previously stated 2030.
- US healthcare spending projected well under budget—more than just the great recession impacting spending: According to a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute, national health spending is projected to be $2.6 trillion under initial estimates for the period of 2014 through 2019.
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- Americans spend $30 billion a year in out-of-pocket expenditures on complementary health approaches: According to newly released CDC 2012 data, 38 percent of American adults had at least one expenditure in complementary health, with expenditures increasing significantly as household income increased.
New initiatives
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- Republican Congress offers “a better way”: Last week, Paul Ryan unveiled a framework for overhauling the US healthcare system through tax incentives, expanded HSAs, portable employer plans, and cross-state sales.
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- Medical kiosks offer low-cost telemedicine: Employers are beginning to experiment with on-site medical kiosks to lower overall healthcare costs and save time on doctor visits.
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- Patient-centric care is today’s reality: HIMSS Innovation Center breaks down a number of ways in which the continuum of care will continue to be driven by consumer demand.
Judicial decisions
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- Supreme Court ruling casts shadow on drug manufacturers’ ability to protect their patents: Though the case brought before the court centered on an automotive technology, the broader standard for patent claims has experts believing that generic drug makers will face an easier time in patent cases.
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- Uptick in physician bribery cases: Doctors in New Jersey, Texas, Florida, and Michigan were convicted or arrested this month on kickback schemes on the heels of a $54 million pharmaceutical settlement and the $626 million medical device settlement in March.
