Healthcare Financial News

Average total medical spending for a “typical family of four” reached$15,609 in 2008, an increase of $1,109 over the preceding year, according to the fourth annual Milliman Medical Index (MMI), released May 14 by the actuarial firm.

The MMI tracks the changes in average yearly healthcare costs when a family of four is covered by an employer-sponsored preferred provider organization. The new Milliman study determined that the average annual medical cost for a family of four increased by 7.6 percent from 2007 to 2008. This was lower than the 8.4 average annual rate of increase for the period 2003-07, but the burden of overall expense is steadily shifting to employees. Download the report.

State nursing home inspectors miss or minimize deficiencies--such as malnutrition, severe bedsores, overuse of medications, and abuse--that pose a serious, immediate threat to patients, according to a report released May 15 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

State inspectors visit most nursing homes once annually under contract with the federal government. Federal officials in some cases accompany state inspectors or make subsequent visits to the facilities to check the results of the inspections. According to the report, from 2002 to 2007, federal officials found that state inspectors had missed at least one serious deficiency at nursing homes in 15 percent of the inspections they checked. In nine states, federal officials found that state inspectors had missed at least one serious deficiency in 25 percent of the inspections they checked, said the report. Download the report.