Hospitals see steep drop in uninsured admissions in states with Medicaid expansion

[ProSense]

Hospitals see steep drop in uninsured admissions in states with Medicaid expansion

by Joan McCarter

A number of publicly traded hospital operators in Tennessee, which operate in other states, are bullish on Obamacare, particularly about the big decline in the number of uninsured people showing up in emergency rooms after Medicaid expansion. It's happening to a certain extent in states that didn't expand, as well, because of all the new Medicaid enrollments that came from people who didn't know they were eligible until they showed up to get insured.

Community Health Systems CFO Larry Cash told investors and analysts during the company’s first-quarter earnings call Wednesday that the ACA should decrease self-pay admissions from about 8 percent to about 4 percent over a three-year period. The company has seen some early moderate impacts, especially in Medicaid expansion states where self-pay admissions have already begun to drop, Cash said.

"We believe we have recognized, although on a roughly calculated basis, at least $10 million from the 'woodwork effect' [in which people currently eligible for Medicaid but who had yet to sign up will now do so because of the ACA] and the Affordable Care Act for additional Medicaid business," Cash said. <…>

"So far and as expected, the new health care law has been a net positive for LifePoint with respect to Medicaid expansion," CEO Bill Carpenter said during the call. "In the seven states where we operate that have expanded coverage, we saw increasing Medicaid and decreasing self-pay volumes. Increases in Medicaid membership and health insurance exchange participation contributed measurably to our results in the quarter. While we don’t expect additional states to expand coverage in 2014, we’re optimistic that more conversions will occur over time."

Another hospital group, HCA said that in the four states in which it operates that have expanded Medicaid, they'd seen a 29 percent decline in admissions of people without insurance, but a 5.9 increase in the non-expansion states.

A 29 percent decrease is pretty huge, meaning big savings for the hospitals, but also big savings for the local and state governments that won't have to figure out how to help the hospitals pay for all that uncompensated care. That's the big argument hospitals in all the states that didn't expand have been trying to make—Medicaid expansion makes sense not just because it means saving lives, because it also saves money.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/08/1297927/-Hospitals-see-steep-drop-in-uninsured-admissions-in-states-with-Medicaid-expansion

Protestors take over Missouri Senate, Demand Medicaid Expansion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024915729

[Scuba]

1. My Governer (sic) hates hospitals, doctors, nurses and other caregivers.

[grahamhgreen]

2. Good for the hospitals, and hopefully the patients.

[mopinko]

3. it's going to revolutionize a lot of things in chicago.

anyone on medicade in cook county is enrolled in countycare, which is an hmo.
they offer more extensive preventive care.
just one thing this will do is to help the cook county jail stabilize the "frequent flyers", mentally ill, often homeless, in about out too quick to help them get stable, but right back in quickly.
now they will get hooked up with regular medications and social services.

we have a great county board, and they are really dying to implement to the max. health care and untreated mentally ill are such HUGE drags on the county.

[AllyCat]

4. And that would not be our hospital in Fitzwalkerstan

Oddly enough, our CEO is a big Walker supporter.

[Ilsa]

5. Maybe the corporate hospitals can

Strong-arm the governors in RW states to accept expansion.

[Cha]

6. K!

[ProSense]

7. Gov’t report: Hospitals improving patient safety

Gov’t report: Hospitals improving patient safety

By Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The government says hospitals are becoming safer for patients due to a quality improvement partnership between industry and federal agencies.

A report out Wednesday from Health and Human Services finds that adverse events such as medication mistakes, falls and infections went down by 9 percent from 2010 to 2012, the latest year that such statistics were available.

That prevented nearly 15,000 deaths and saved $4 billion in costs, the report estimated.

Separately, a key quality indicator for Medicare patients also showed continued improvement: Readmission rates declined in 2013 for the second year in a row.

Under President Barack Obama’s health care law hospitals can face financial penalties if too many Medicare beneficiaries are readmitted within 30 days of an initial hospitalization.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/govt-report-hospitals-improving-patient-safety/2014/05/07/eec71bfe-d5e7-11e3-8f7d-7786660fff7c_story.html

Data shows ACA reforms leading to lower hospital readmission rates for Medicare beneficiaries
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024763499