Retrospective cohort study of the economic value of providing microprocessor knees to the population of Medicare fee-for-service K2 beneficiaries with a knee disarticulation/above knee amputation.

Background: Microprocessor knees (MPKs) improve the functional mobility, quality of life, and safety of individuals with a knee disarticulation or above knee amputation and are cost-effective when adjusting for quality-of-life years gained. However, few studies have been conducted on the K2 population, and to this point, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has not covered MPKs for the K2 population.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which MPK provision to the K2 population is cost effective at the person and population levels.

Chronic wound prevalence and the associated cost of treatment in Medicare beneficiaries: changes between 2014 and 2019.

Objective: To determine the cost of wound care and prevalence of chronic wounds for Medicare beneficiaries in the aggregate, by wound type, and by setting between the years 2014 and 2019.

Methods: This retrospective analysis of Medicare claims data included beneficiaries who experienced episodes of care for diabetic foot ulcers and infections; arterial ulcers; skin disorders and infections; surgical wounds and infections; traumatic wounds; venous ulcers and infections; unspecified chronic ulcers; and others. The 2014 data were based on a Medicare 5% Limited Data Set whereas for 2019 the data used were for all fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries.

An Economic Evaluation of the Impact, Cost, and Medicare Policy Implications of Chronic Nonhealing Wounds.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the cost of chronic wound care for Medicare beneficiaries in aggregate, by wound type and by setting.

Methods: This retrospective analysis of the Medicare 5% Limited Data Set for calendar year 2014 included beneficiaries who experienced episodes of care for one or more of the following: arterial ulcers, chronic ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers, diabetic infections, pressure ulcers, skin disorders, skin infections, surgical wounds, surgical infections, traumatic wounds, venous ulcers, or venous infections. The main outcomes were the prevalence of each wound type, Medicare expenditure for each wound type and aggregate, and expenditure by type of service.

Without the individual mandate, the Affordable Care Act would still cover 23 million; premiums would rise less than predicted.

Many policy analysts fear that eliminating the individual health insurance mandate and penalty from the Affordable Care Act of 2010 would lead to a "premium spiral," in which healthy people would drop coverage, premiums would soar, and the number of people with coverage would plummet. However, there are other provisions of the law that would greatly mitigate this effect. For example, the subsidies provided in the law to help people purchase coverage through health insurance exchanges would restrain a premium spiral by absorbing much of the impact of premium increases.

The rise of the entrepreneurial physican.

The policy issues surrounding physician-owned specialty hospitals are highly controversial. Central to the controversy is the trade-off between the role these hospitals might play in increasing competition and the impact they might have on community hospitals' ability to cross-subsidize unfunded missions. Key policy questions relate to quality, efficiency, and the degree to which specialty hospitals are fairly paid for their services.

The cost of tax-exempt health benefits in 2004.

The tax expenditure for health benefits is the amount of revenues that the federal government forgoes by exempting health benefits and spending from the federal income and Social Security taxes, including (1) employer health benefit contributions for workers and retirees, (2) health benefit deductions for the self-employed, (3) health spending under flexible spending plans, and (4) the tax deduction for health expenses. We estimate that this expenditure will be dollars 188.5 billion in 2004.