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PubMed1988

How to survive in the private practice of psychiatry.

The private practice of psychiatry is being transformed by the new economics of medical care. Patients are paying more out-of-pocket for necessary care (demand-side cost sharing), and health care providers are being asked to assume part of the risk of treatment through prospective payment (supply-side cost sharing). Specific survival strategies for psychiatrists in private practice include development of a balanced practice, expansion of referral networks, participation in alternative delivery systems such as health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations, active involvement in utilization and claims review, participation in outcome studies, and expansion of patient care advocacy and community involvement.

Health Maintenance Organizations↗
PubMed1992

The role of the Medicare fiscal intermediary and the Regional Home Health Intermediary, Part 1.

The Medicare fiscal intermediaries (FIs) are private insurance companies that serve as the federal government's agents in the administration of the Medicare program, including the payment of claims. There are two primary functions for the FI--reimbursement review and medical coverage review. Hospital-based home health agencies relate to the hospital's FI for reimbursement purposes. All home health agencies are assigned to a special FI, the Regional Home Health Intermediary (RHHI), for medical review issues. The same or a different FI may audit the hospital's cost report. Freestanding home health agencies deal with separate reimbursement and medical review divisions within a single RHHI's office. The author reviews the role of the Medicare FI and the RHHI and their relationship to home health agencies. Part 2 will appear in the July/August issue.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.↗
PubMed2005

Comparison of costs and utilization between users of insulin lispro versus users of regular insulin in a managed care setting.

OBJECTIVE: To compare medical and pharmacy costs and utilization between patients with diabetes who received insulin lispro versus regular human insulin. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of medical and pharmacy claims was conducted among continuously enrolled users of insulin lispro or regular insulin during the identification period, March 1, 2000, through February 28, 2001, within a large managed care organization. This study improved upon the methodology used in previous studies by (a) stratifying (rather than 1:1 matching) individuals by their likelihood to use insulin lispro using the propensity score binning technique, and (b) refining the study inclusion criteria to include only patients with 3 or more fills of the insulin under study (lispro or regular) to exclude individuals who may have been on either product for a short time. Because the propensity score binning technique groups patients with similar baseline characteristics within strata (bins) and not among individual patients, almost the entire available sample is retained in the analysis, unlike propensity score matching, where large numbers of patients can be excluded depending on the matching scheme. Therefore, the propensity score binning technique, because it uses more complete information, is less likely to produce biased results. Patients were grouped into 5 bins (quintiles) based on their estimated likelihood to receive insulin lispro rather than regular insulin. The propensity score model used baseline characteristics of age, gender, comorbidities, use of oral antidiabetic medications, prescription copayment, and diabetes-related costs and utilization. Overall cost and utilization differences (lispro minus regular insulin) during the 12-month follow-up period were calculated using weights inversely proportional to variances of within-bin differences. RESULTS: Of 6,436 patients, 1,972 (30.6%) received insulin lispro and 4,464 (69.4%) received regular insulin. The propensity score estimation produced 5 bins, each containing between 1,287 and 1,288 patients, utilizing all patients in the analysis. Patients in the lower-numbered propensity score quintiles were older, more likely to use oral antidiabetic medications, and had more comorbidities than those in the higher-numbered quintiles. As quintile number increased, the percentage of insulin lispro users also increased. The weighted mean annual cost difference (lispro minus regular insulin) per patient was + USD 79 (P < 0.001) for diabetes-related pharmacy cost, + USD 212 (P < 0.001) for total pharmacy cost, USD 75 (P < 0.857) for diabetes-related medical cost, USD 2,286 (P <0.011) for nondiabetes medical cost, and USD 2,327 (P = 0.072) for total medical cost. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with regular insulin users, insulin lispro users incurred higher diabetes-related and total pharmacy costs but lower nondiabetes medical costs and similar total medical costs. Fewer hospitalizations among insulin lispro as compared with regular insulin users contributed to lower nondiabetes medical costs and similar total medical costs.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2003

[Medical expert assessment, objectivity and justice in disability pension cases. ].

BACKGROUND: The formal principle of justice is often interpreted as the requirement of objectivity when a person's situation is to be evaluated in the light of social justice. The aim of this article is to analyse whether or not the formal principle of justice is fulfilled by the ontological and the epistemological concept of objectivity when disability claims are evaluated medically in relation to the Norwegian legislation on disability benefits. MATERIAL AND METHODS: material is legal and medical texts about medical disability evaluation. The method is text analysis. RESULTS: The main result is that the concept of ontological objectivity functions as the criterion of objectivity when the causal relations between sickness, impairment and disability are explained. This criterion is, however, problematic because it is based on the assumption that there is a linear causal model of these relations, which precludes the explanation of many cases of disability. INTERPRETATION: The ontological concept of objectivity is not a necessary condition for impartiality and formal justice in relation to the causal relation between sickness and disability. In some situations this concept is a sufficient condition. The epistemological concept of objectivity is a sufficient condition, but it is not a necessary condition. Some cases must be reviewed on a discretionary basis.

Causality↗
PubMed2006

Medicaid program and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) payment error rate measurement. Interim final rule with comment period.

This interim final rule with comment period sets forth the State requirements to provide information to us for purposes of estimating improper payments in Medicaid and SCHIP. The Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA) requires heads of Federal agencies to estimate and report to the Congress annually these estimates of improper payments for the programs they oversee, and submit a report on actions the agency is taking to reduce erroneous payments. This interim final rule with comment responds to the public comments on the October 5, 2005 interim final rule and sets forth State requirements for submitting claims and policies to the Federal contractor for purposes of conducting FFS and managed care reviews. This interim final rule also sets forth and invites further comments on the State requirements for conducting eligibility reviews and estimating payment error rates due to errors in eligibility determinations.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Medicaid program and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) payment error rate measurement. Interim final rule with comment period.

This interim final rule sets forth the State requirements to provide information to us for purposes of estimating improper payments in Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), as required under the Improper Payments Information Act (IPIA) of 2002. The IPIA requires heads of Federal agencies to annually estimate and report to the Congress these estimates of improper payments for the programs they oversee and, submit a report on actions the agency is taking to reduce erroneous payments. We published a proposed rule on August 27, 2004 to propose that States measure improper payments in Medicaid and SCHIP and report the State-specific error rates to us for purposes of computing the improper payment estimates for these programs. After extensive analysis of the issues related to having States measure improper payments in Medicaid and SCHIP, including public comments on the provisions in the proposed rule, we are revising our proposed approach. Our new approach incorporates commenters' suggestions to engage a Federal contractor by contracting with that entity to complete the data processing and medical reviews and calculate the State-specific error rates. Based on the States' error rates, the contractor also will calculate the improper payment estimates for these programs which will be reported by the Department of Health and Human Services as required by the IPIA. This interim final rule sets out the types of information that States would need to submit to allow CMS to conduct medical and data processing reviews on claims made in the fee-for-service (FFS) setting. CMS will address estimating improper payments for Medicaid managed care and eligibility and SCHIP FFS, managed care and eligibility at a later time. This rule responds to the public comments on the proposed rule, sets forth the requirements for States to assist us and the contractor to produce State-specific error rates in Medicaid and SCHIP which will be used as the basis for a national error rate, and outlines future plans for measuring eligibility, which may include greater State involvement than the level required for the medical and data processing reviews.

Child↗
PubMed1997

Using proprietary methods to evaluate acute care admissions to a Veterans Affairs tertiary care center: are the appropriateness criteria appropriate?

An important question for facilities monitoring acute care bed admissions with proprietary criteria is whether these methodologies remain valid after substantial changes to the criteria sets. This is especially true for publicly funded hospitals whose medical and social mission is often broader than that of private sector facilities for which insurance-based claim review is most relevant. To further address this issue, we used sequential sets (1994 and 1995) of InterQual Intensity, Severity, and Discharge criteria to assess a cohort of patients referred to our Veterans Affairs facility as acute care admissions between December 1, 1994, and February 28, 1995. We found that the appropriateness rate for the subset of medical admissions dropped from 88% when using the 1994 criteria set to 49% when using the more stringent 1995 criteria set (P < 0.001). We conclude that substantive changes to previously validated criteria sets require revalidation. Furthermore, consideration should be given to the role that insurance-based utilization review should play in publicly funded hospital systems.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2003

The AANA Foundation Closed Malpractice Claims Study on nerve injuries during anesthesia care.

Anesthesia-associated nerve injury is a common cause of patient morbidity and litigation. To identify factors associated with perioperative nerve injuries and rationalize preventive strategies, 44 cases from the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) Foundation Closed Malpractice Claims Database pertaining to nerve injuries in which nurse anesthetists provided care were analyzed. Emerging patterns and themes related to the development of injury were identified. The database is a collection of medical liability claims filed against CRNAs insured by the St Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company; 44 claims of anesthesia-related nerve injury were analyzed. The most common injury was to the brachial plexus (15 [34%]), followed by ulnar nerve injury (7 [16%]), radial nerve injury (5 [11%]), peroneal nerve injury (4 [9%]), paraplegia (4 [9%]), lumbosacral injury (3[7%]), and a variety of "other" injuries (8[18%]). These numbers and percentages total more than 44 (100%) as some patients incurred multiple injuries. Documentation on the anesthesia record of the use of intraoperative protective padding and patient position was lacking or inadequate in a majority of the claims. Effective strategies for the prevention of nerve injury during anesthesia are reviewed. Abnormal body habitus, several disease states, anesthesia technique, improper positioning, lack of adequate padding, and tourniquet use have been implicated as risk factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Impact of Medicare denials on noninvasive vascular diagnostic testing.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of Medicare coverage limitations and claim denials on noninvasive vascular diagnostic testing. METHODS: All Medicare claims for noninvasive vascular diagnostic studies from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 1999, were identified from the hospital billing database according to Current Procedural Terminology codes for carotid artery duplex ultrasound scan, venous duplex ultrasound scan, and lower-extremity arterial Doppler scan. Reasons for Medicare denial of payment for these tests were reviewed and a cost analysis was performed. RESULTS: During the 1-year period, there were 1096 noninvasive vascular diagnostic studies performed on Medicare patients. Of these 1096 tests, 176 (16.1%) were denied by Medicare (19.6% of 408 carotid duplex ultrasound scans, 16.8% of 345 venous duplex ultrasound scans, and 11.1% of 343 lower-extremity arterial Doppler scans). Of the noninvasive vascular tests denied by Medicare, an abnormal result was present in 72.5% of carotid duplex ultrasound scans, 32.8% of venous duplex ultrasound scans, and 78.9% of lower-extremity arterial Doppler scans. Overall, 88.1% of all initially denied claims (N = 176) were ultimately reimbursed by Medicare after resubmission, including 77.1% of the 118 claims denied based on compliance rules for "medical necessity." CONCLUSION: Because of coverage limitations, Medicare denials of noninvasive vascular diagnostic tests can lead to potential uncompensated physician and hospital technical fees if denied claims are unrecognized. Vascular laboratories performing these tests need to review compliance with Medicare guidelines. Improvements may need to be made at both the provider and Medicare carrier levels in obtaining reimbursement for appropriately ordered noninvasive vascular diagnostic studies.

Carotid Arteries↗
PubMed1993

Risk issues in claims reported by 85 small hospitals.

According to one business adage, 20 percent of one's activity reflects 80 percent of one's success. Although few managers in small hospitals spend more than 20 percent of their time on credentialing and peer review, those activities are likely to have the most impact on preventing claims in small hospitals. Other strategies that may enhance these activities include redefining the types of services offered when professional staff, resources for new services, and staff education are scarce. Help with developing sound peer review and credentialing practices can be found through networking within professional organizations, in documents published by national organizations, and by using professional risk management services available through liability carriers. Devoting time to improving providers' documentation skills, monitoring key technical skills of health care providers, and analyzing patient flows from provider to provider and service to service are also likely to have an impact on losses in small hospitals.

Data Collection↗