Healthcare Financial News

A 1.0 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate results in a 0.59 percentage point increase in the uninsured, according to studies cited in a new report from Changes in Health Care Financing & Organization, an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. While few employers actually drop coverage, they may cut costs by changing the benefit and/or restructuring cost-sharing with employees. Typically, employers in low-wage jobs (or those working in small firms) are most likely to be uninsured after losing their job, but this recession is affecting a broader swath of the workforce.

The report pulls together research findings to explore how health care is affected by the current economic cycle. The effects of the economy also include changes in the demand for (or access to) health care—as well as the financial status of practitioners and health organizations. Reports from across the U.S. describe falling revenues due to decreased demand for less non-urgent or elective care, more patients unable to pay their medical bills, significant losses in investment income, less charitable giving, and cuts in state and federal healthcare funding.

HealthDataInsights, the Medicare recovery audit contractor (RAC) for Region D, has initiated automated audits of seven hospital outpatient and physician codes on Medicare claims paid since Oct. 1, 2007. The states in Region D are Alaska, Arizona, California, South Dakota, North Dakota, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. For more information about RAC audits, visit the RAC section of HFMA’s online Resource Center.