Background Rural-urban inequality in long-term care (LTC) services has been increasing alongside rapid socioeconomic development. This study estimates the average spending on LTC services and identifies the factors that influence the use and cost of LTC for the elderly living in urban and rural areas of Thailand. Methods The sample comprised 837 elderly aged 60 years drawn from rural and urba...

The Demand for, and Consequences of, Formalization among Informal Firms in Sri Lanka The majority of firms in most developing countries are informal. We conducted a field experiment in Sri Lanka which provided incentives for informal firms to formalize. Offering only information about the registration process and reimbursement for direct registration costs had no impact on formalization. Adding...

We explore the effectiveness of matching grants when lower levels of government can expropriate some of the funds for other uses. Using data on the Medicaid Disproportionate Share program, we identify states that were most able to expropriate funds. Payments to public hospitals in these states were systematically diverted and had no significant impact on patient mortality. Payments that were no...

The Medicare program may soon adopt value-based purchasing (VBP), in which hospitals could receive incentives that are conditional on meeting specified performance objectives. The authors advocate for a market-oriented framework and direct measures of system-level value that are focused on better outcomes and lower total cost of care. They present a multidimensional framework for measuring outc...

We explore the effectiveness of matching grants when lower levels of government can expropriate some of the funds for other uses. Using data on the Medicaid Disproportionate Share program, we identify states that were most able to expropriate funds. Payments to public hospitals in these states were systematically diverted and had no significant impact on patient mortality. Payments that were no...

Key Findings. (1) Based on analysis of 2009 Medicare claims data, more than 70% of rural primary care physicians (PCP) and non-physician practitioners (NPP) qualify for payments under the Primary Care Incentive Payment Program (PCIP) threshold (i.e., meet the > 60% of allowable Medicare charges). (2) The average incentive payment for qualifying rural PCPs would result in an additional $8,000 in...

Background In 2011, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has introduced a bundled payment reform along with a Quality Incentive Program (QIP) to bring efficiency in End stage renal disease (ESRD) care. The QIP rates facilities using clinical and reporting criteria, but misses out on patient outcomes. It penalizes facilities not achieving a target score by 0-2% of payments. The s...

BACKGROUND Informal ("curbside") consults are widely used by primary care physicians. These interactions occur in person, by telephone, or even by e-mail. Exposure to malpractice liability is a frequent concern of subspecialty physicians and influences their willingness to engage in this activity. To assess this risk, we reviewed reported judicial opinions involving informal consultation by phy...

A retrospective analysis of the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) Public Use Data File was performed on anesthesia-related malpractice payments from 2004 to 2010. Anesthesia-related allegations, malpractice act or omission codes, severity of injury, and cost were assessed. The NPDB captured 369 anesthesia-related malpractice payments associated with Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists ...

Payment to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans was fundamentally altered in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA). MA plans now operate under a new formula for county-level payment area benchmarks, and in 2012 began receiving quality-based bonus payments. The Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Payment Demonstration expanded the bonus payments to most MA plans through 2014; howeve...