JustCare

Tag: Ratings

  • 45 states receive failing grades on health care price transparency

    45 states receive failing grades on health care price transparency

    At the same time that many people are arguing that people need to take greater responsibility for their health care choices, states are failing to ensure that people can even know the prices of the care they are getting.  A new report by the Catalyst for Payment Reform and the Health Care Incentives Institute reveals that 45 states received an F on health care price transparency.

    Twenty nine states received an F last year and sixteen more received an F this year, including Massachusetts. It fell from an A last year to an F because it took the responsibility for price transparency away from the government and imposed it on health plans.

    Five states got passing grades, but only one got an A.  New Hampshire went from an F last year to an A this year.  You can now find out prices on the web site, NH HealthCost.  Colorado and Maine got Bs. And, Virginia and Vermont both got Cs.

    New York and Connecticut have web sites in the works that will provide people with price information.  And, Maryland and Washington are working on a plan to provide their residents with price information.

  • Long-term care is unaffordable for middle-income families

    Long-term care is unaffordable for middle-income families

    Where you live matters, for all kinds of reasons, including because it affects the long-term services and supports that may be available to you and the people you love. The big headline, though, is that long-term care is too often unaffordable for middle-income families no matter what state you live in.

    As more and more boomers begin to need long-term services and supports, new policy solutions become critical. Today, Medicaid provides the only real safety net for older adults, people with disabilities and caregivers.  But, the adequacy of Medicaid supports varies considerably among the states.  And, long-term care insurance is not meeting people’s needs.

    If you’re interested to know how your state ranks in providing long-term services and supports, AARP has developed a scorecard.  The scorecard looks at how states fare in five areas (1) cost and access, (2) care providers and settings, (3) quality of life and quality of care, (4) support for family caregivers, and (5) effective transitions.

    Based on the scorecard, when it comes to long-term services and supports, Minnesota and Washington are the two best states to live in, and Alabama and Kentucky are the two worst states. South Dakota, New York and Montana rank 24, 25 and 26th respectively.

    For simple tips on how to plan for long-term care, click here.

  • Four things to think about before moving into a nursing home

    Four things to think about before moving into a nursing home

    Before moving into a nursing home, it’s important to do your homework and understand your rights and options.

    1. Care: You have the right to receive whatever care you need to reach the highest reasonable level of functioning or so that your condition does not deteriorate.  Medicaid patients have exactly the same rights to these services as everyone else in the nursing home so long as the nursing home accepts Medicaid patients. And all patients and their families have the right to help develop the care plan so that it is tailored to the resident’s needs
    2. Choice: The nursing home must accommodate the resident’s preferences, whether they be to wake up late in the morning, to participate in an activity, to change schedules or to have family visit any time of the day or night.
    3. Costs: Only the resident is required to be financially responsible for his or her care.  The nursing home cannot force a family member to take responsibility.  Medicare should pick up the costs for residents needing daily skilled nursing or therapy care who have been hospitalized for three days in the 30 days prior to admission, so long as the nursing home is Medicare-certified.  If the nursing home says Medicare won’t pay, you still should insist that it submit the bill to Medicare.
    4. Help: Every state has a long-term care ombudsman program to help ensure the nursing home provides you with the benefits and protections to which you are entitled free of charge. There are also websites where you can find nursing home ratings, but read them with caution.
    For more information from the National Senior Citizens Law Center, click here.
  • How to choose a doctor

    How to choose a doctor

    When it’s time to see a doctor and you don’t know whom to use, most of us decide in one of two ways—either a friend recommends one or we choose from the list the insurer gives us.  But, your friends might not know whether a doctor they think is good is in fact good or is good for you.  And, using the insurer’s list is much like rolling the dice.  There’s no telling what will turn up.  Is there a better way?

    Right now, there’s not a lot of good objective information available. Physician Compare is a new web site created by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that helps you decide which doctor to use.  The jury’s still out as to whether, over time, it will give you relevant and helpful information about the quality of doctors and patient experiences with doctors, including patient outcomes.  Nursing Home Compare and Hospital Compare, other CMS web sites, have their limitations but are worth taking a look at.

    Information on Physician Compare is still fairly limited, but Steve Findlay explains here that there’s a lot more to come and it could be very helpful.  The other sites that rate doctors do not have outcomes data and can be misleading because their ratings can be based on just a few reviews.

    The Informed Patient Institute (IPI), a non-profit that rates web sites that compare health care providers, has given Physician Compare a “C” rating, below other sites that rate physicians.  It’s worth looking at the IPI site to get a sense of the range of sources that rate doctors in your state.

    Until we come up with reliable physician ratings, you should ask your primary care doctor or another doctor you know and trust for physician recommendations.  Once you have some names, visit Physician Compare and other sites reviewed by The Informed Patient Institute to see if you can get a better understanding of the doctors recommended.  It’s about your health and your pocketbook. It’s worth the time to do the research.

  • Hospitals poor on patient safety that you might want to avoid

    Hospitals poor on patient safety that you might want to avoid

    You should think twice before using hospitals poor on patient safety. Medicare recently penalized 721 hospitals in the United States for their high rates of avoidable infections and complications.  These hospitals ranked in the bottom 25 percent of hospitals surveyed.

    Medicare looked at two different types of avoidable infections–certain blood-stream infections and certain urinary tract infections. It also looked at avoidable complications that result from eight different types of injuries, including bed sores, falls, and blood clots.

    For a list of the hospitals penalized, click here.  Earlier this year, Medicare penalized 2610 hospitals for high readmission rates.  In Medicare’s view, these hospitals should have done a better job of caring for patients when they were first hospitalized so as to avoid their need for readmission.

  • Low-income adults value Medicaid

    Low-income adults value Medicaid

    A recent survey of low-income adults reveals that low-income adults value Medicaid. They view Medicaid as health insurance coverage that is as good or better than private insurance in “quality and affordability.” Medicaid was rated less good in terms of “access to doctors and being treated with respect.”  The overwhelming majority, 80 percent, favor Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Unfortunately, only one-third said that they were aware of their states’ plans to expand Medicaid in 2014.  The vast majority were misinformed.  Survey respondents were from Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas.

    The ACA provides substantial federal money to states that wish to expand Medicaid to cover a broader swath of low-income adults, people with incomes under 138 percent of poverty.  To date, as a result of  health care reform, 26 states and the District of Columbia have undertaken Medicaid expansion and eight million more adults are enrolled in Medicaid.Nearly 3,000 people between the ages of 19 and 64 were included in the study sample.

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    Almost 20 percent of residents are uninsured in states that have not expanded Medicaid

  • US News and World Reports: 2014 Best Hospitals in America

    US News and World Reports: 2014 Best Hospitals in America

    What are the best hospitals in America? US News and World Reports released its answer for 2014. There’s a lot of information to consider and there are a lot of unknowns.

    The U.S. News survey relies on data from 5.000 hospitals (about half the hospitals in the country) and more than 9,500 physicians. It is based on patient safety data, death rates, and data on treatments for complex conditions, among many other important factors.Keep in mind though that good treatment is a function of the particular team of specialists and other providers delivering the care as well as the hospital. And, the best hospital in a particular specialty area overall might not be the best in the subspecialty area for which you need treatment.

    So, before you decide to go with one hospital over another for your care or the care of someone you love, ask a lot of questions. You should look at the U.S. News for its ranking and the different factors it considers. Also, take a look at the Informed Patient Institute list and rankings of a few different hospital report cards. And, talk to your doctor, your family and friends. Sometimes, there’s no easy answer to the question of what hospital is best for your condition.  Always, it’s important and worth the effort to do the research.

  • The U.S. ranks behind Iceland and many other countries in how well it serves older adults

    The U.S. ranks behind Iceland and many other countries in how well it serves older adults

    A new 2014 Global Age Watch report ranks Norway as the country that best serves its older population.  The report is based on data from 96 countries on pensions, health, employment and education, and social environment.  The United States ranks eighth overall, behind Iceland and the Netherlands and ahead of Denmark and Japan. And, even that ranking is deceptive, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

    Of note, the United States ranks 25rd on health status, well behind Japan, which ranks first. Costa Rica, Colombia and Cyprus also do better on health status than the United States, ranking 15th,18th and 24th, respectively.  Health status rankings are based on life expectancy at age 60 and healthy life expectancy at age 60.

    And, on income security, the United States ranks 22nd, behind Slovakia and South Africa. Norway ranks first on income security, with France in second place and Iceland in third place.  Half of the world’s population does not receive even a basic pension in old age.In case you’re curious, Afghanistan is the worst country to be old in.  Check out the data for yourself, here.
  • Americans give our health care system a C on affordability

    Americans give our health care system a C on affordability

    Just released survey findings from Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, reveal that a majority of Americans believe that key health care stakeholders are making too much money off of patients, and many believe that the federal government should take responsibility for reining in costs.In 2013, families typically spent $600 on their health care on top of health insurance premiums.  And, almost one in eight of them spent more than $5000, excluding premiums. Overall, respondents gave the US health care system a C on affordability but, of that group, people with Medicare gave it a B on affordability.

    The overall grade among all respondents on quality of care, affordability, fairness, choice of doctors and ease of access was a B-.  Of note, the people with Medicare gave our health care system the highest overall grade of any other group, including the well insured, B-, and the light users, C+.Of the 1000 people surveyed, one in three (34 percent) believe the health insurers have “profited most excessively” from our health care system and one in four (26 percent) believe that drug companies have seen the most profits.  Very few (2 percent) appreciate the extent to which the medical device manufacturers, makers of syringes and MRI machines among a wide array of other products, profit from the system.

    More than 40 percent of respondents, two out of five, said that the federal government should address these excessive costs.  An overwhelming majority, 86 percent felt that the government should not allow drug companies to charge Americans more than they do people in other countries.  More than 80 percent of them also felt that the government should set standard prices for hospitals, doctors and drugs.

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  • State-by-state report card on America’s health care system

    State-by-state report card on America’s health care system

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    To learn more from the American College of Emergency Physicians about your state’s rankings on access to emergency care, quality and patient safety, medical liability, public health and disaster preparedness, click here: http://www.emreportcard.org