Data Fuel Regional Fight on Medicare Spending

[joeycola]

The money saved was supposed to go for paying for the health reform. But if this data is correct, there will not be much savings.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/health/policy/08cost.html?th&emc=th


September 8, 2009
Data Fuel Regional Fight on Medicare Spending

By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON —..............

As part of any bill to revamp health care, President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress say they want to reward doctors and hospitals for providing higher-quality, lower-cost care. But their efforts have touched off a fight within the Democratic Party, pitting urban lawmakers against rural lawmakers and creating a major new hurdle for health legislation.

Mr. Obama says the nation could save huge sums if all doctors and hospitals were as efficient as those in lower-cost states like Iowa, Minnesota, Washington and Wisconsin. Lawmakers from those states have reached an agreement with House Democratic leaders that would increase federal Medicare payments to health providers in their states. Higher-cost states, which could see their Medicare payments reduced, are fighting back.

Dr. Denis A. Cortese, president of the Mayo Clinic, based in Rochester, Minn., said Medicare wasted billions of dollars a year because it “pays the most to health care providers and geographic areas that provide the lowest-quality care at the highest costs.”

But Dr. Steven M. Safyer, president of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, said: “Our Medicare expenditures reflect the low socioeconomic status of the population and the very high cost of doing business here. Many of our patients do not receive regular care before becoming eligible for Medicare and have no one to care for them after they leave the hospital. Our construction costs and wages are also much higher than the national average.”

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an independent federal panel that advises Congress, has found that geographic variation in Medicare spending is substantial. But it told Congress recently that much of the variation could be explained by local differences in the cost of providing care and in the health status of beneficiaries, as well as by extra payments, authorized by Congress, for hospitals that train doctors or treat large numbers of low-income patients....................