In this paper we estimate the welfare associated with the Medicare HMO program, now known as Medicare+Choice. We find that the Medicare HMO program contributed over $5.8 billion (1998 dollars) to consumer and producer surplus from 1993 to 1998. We estimate that the HMO program generates positive net societal welfare as long as the cost of treating HMO enrollees in the Medicare fee-for-service (...

Since 2002, the healthcare system in Taiwan has implemented a global budgeting scheme in clinics and hospitals with an expenditure cap. The current mode of payment for medical points in Taiwan is primarily through the fee-for-service (FFS) mechanism. This payment mechanism has diminished the quality of services that clinics and hospitals provide to patients. Furthermore, FFS does not grant ince...

Co-opting physicians to regulate Fee-for-Service (FFS) payment is more feasible and simpler to administer than capitation, Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs) and pay-for-performance. The key lies in designing and revising the fee schedule, which not only defines and sets the fee for each item, but also the conditions of billing. Adherence to these regulations must be strictly audited in order to c...

On July 7, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the calendar year (CY) 2015 proposed payment rule for the Medicare Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS). The proposed rule reflects the annual update to the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) HH rates and policies based on regulatory changes put forward by CMS and legislative changes previously adopted by Con...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are responsible for costs and quality across a defined population. To succeed, the ACO must improve value by reducing costs while either maintaining or improving the quality of care. We examined changes from 2008 through 2013 in the cost and quality of care for Partners for Kids (PFK), a pediatric ACO serving an Ohio Medicaid popul...

This article describes the results of a simulation analysis of a payment model for specialty oncology services that is being developed for possible testing by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS asked MITRE and RAND to conduct simulation analyses to preview some of the possible impacts of the payment model and to inform desi...

INTRODUCTION Little research has been conducted into the attitudes and knowledge of dietitians-nutritionists (DN) or of experts in human nutrition and dietetics (EHND) regarding functional foods (FFs). OBJECTIVES To evaluate the knowledge of, interest in and predisposition towards FFs in Spanish DN and EHND, and how these professionals rate the potential benefits and risks associated with con...

AIM The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of feeding fermented fish silage (FFS) on serum biochemical parameters of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica). MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 192, 7-day-old broiler Japanese quail chicks of either sex, were randomly distributed into four dietary treatments with four replicates in each group having 12 chicks in each replicat...

Ferrofluids (FFs) are stable colloidal suspensions composed of single-domain magnetic nanoparticles dispersed in a carrier liquid. And it is an intelligent material, exhibiting normal liquid behaviour coupled with superparamagnetic properties. Since the properties and the location of these fluids can easily be influenced by a magnetic field, FFs have recently attracted many scientific, industri...

BACKGROUND As healthcare spending continues to increase, medical insurance is now under great pressure of growing economic burden. To control the excessive growth of medical expenditure, change of medical payment system was clearly put forward in China's new healthcare reform. With this end, Tianjin, a large city in North China, is now exploring to replace traditional fee-for-service (FFS) with...