Cardiovascular Imaging Payment and Reimbursement Systems

Reimbursement of sole community hospitals under Medicare's prospective payment System

Under the prospective payment system (PPS), designated sole community hospitals (SCH's), usually smaller than other rural hospitals but offering comparable services, have had higher average cost levels, in part because of underutilization of plant and equipment. This has resulted in negative operating margins on patient revenues, although local financial support and other revenue sources bring ...

Network Issues and Payment Systems

James J. McAndrews* Networks play an integral part in the production and consumption of certain goods and services, including transportation, communications, and payment systems. A network good or service has two main characteristics: the value a person gets from the product increases as more people consume it and the technique a firm chooses to produce the product will depend on techniques cho...

Information Disclosure and the Equivalence of Prospective Payment and Cost Reimbursement

A health care provider chooses medical service quality and cost-reduction e§ort. Both choices are noncontractible. An insurer observes both quality and cost e§ort, and may credibly disclose them to consumers. In prospective payment, the insurer fully discloses care quality, and sets a prospective payment price. In cost reimbursement, the insurer discloses a value index, a weighted average of qu...

Digital Cash Payment Systems

The recent explosion in the popularity of the Internet has been accompanied by considerable interest in using this worldwide collection of interconnected computers as a medium for commerce. While electronic commerce in general is not itself a novel concept, the dizzying pace of change in the computer networking landscape of late promises to bring with it exciting new ways for individuals and co...

Electronic payment systems