If you want to find which hospitals have the most experience with each procedure, you need to download a spreadsheet of codes used at hospitals. These Diagnostic Related Groups (DRG) cover major types of hospital treatment. (or click for experienced doctors):
Download a detailed file of hospitals' experience, the Inpatient Charge Data at: cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Medicare-Provider-Charge-Data/Inpatient2014.html
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Penalties on heart failure, heart attacks and pneumonia have been paid since October 2012, based on readmissions back to July 2008. Penalties on emphysema, chronic bronchitis (COPD), knee and hip replacements will be paid starting October 2014, based on readmissions back to July 2010. Medicare calculates new penalties each fiscal year: Penalties charged in any one year are based on readmissions in three years ending 15 months earlier.
Generally these have other ways of controlling costs:
NIH says heart failure means a weak heart. They say an alternate name is congestive heart failure.
NIH says knee or hip arthroplasty (Medicare term) means replacement. NIH says COPD means emphysema or chronic bronchitis. NIH says AMI, acute myocardial infarction, means heart attack. NIH defines comfort care as symptom relief at the end of life, along with mental and spiritual comfort for terminal patients, so when doctors mention comfort care, they do not mean cure. NIH says palliative care includes many treatments at any stage of illness, but they immediately discuss advance directives, DNR, and refusal of life-sustaining treatment. They also consider palliative care part of the same research field as end of life. While they say palliative care does not mean intent to die or forgo treatment, the message is very mixed, which is why many doctors and HealthGrades ratings of hospitals think it signals less treatment. Often it causes drowsiness, so patients participate less in decisions. Critical Access Hospitals, designated state by state, are generally rural with less than 25 beds, average stays under 4 days, and 35 miles from other hospitals. (42cfr485.601 to 647). They are marked in our "Combined list" of hospitals, and are identified by "13" in the middle of the hospital Id number. They get extra payments to support better care than small hospitals otherwise could give. Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) are groups of health providers who get paid more if they lower Medicare costs for the patients they see and meet minimum quality standards, including reducing admissions and readmissions (pp.10-13). Readmissions do not count against them if the patient dies within 30 days of initial discharge, and deaths do not count at all. Patients do not sign up. Medicare tracks which patients get most of their care from the ACO, and then rewards the ACO if Medicare saves money on these patients. A 2018 JAMA summary of research says, "there is now independently corroborated evidence that the HRRP [hospital readmissions reduction program] was associated with increased postdischarge mortality among patients with heart failure and new evidence that the HRRP was associated with increased mortality among patients hospitalized for pneumonia. In light of these findings, it is incumbent upon Congress and CMS to initiate an expeditious reconsideration and revision of this policy." There is also a 2017 summary in Modern Healthcare. Higher Deaths after the Readmission Penalties Started A 2015 CDC study found higher death rates from heart failure after the readmission penalties started. Their data cover both hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients, so they include the effect of less hospital treatment for heart failure, driven by penalties. A 2017 American College of Cardiology editorial said, "in 2014 alone, an estimated 5,008 excess [Heart Failure] patient deaths were associated with [readmissions program] implementation." A 2018 JAMA study found higher death rates after the readmission penalties started, primarily in heart failure patients, and to some extent in pneumonia patients treated in hospitals. The paper's findings are strong, but the summary hides those findings: The paper says, "45-Day Postadmission Mortality... HRRP announcement was significantly associated with an increase in mortality" but the summary says, "Given the study design and the lack of significant association of the HRRP with mortality within 45 days of admission, further research is needed." Then they refuse to say what kind of research would be more conclusive than the research so far. I asked, "Would you support removing penalties for a large random sample of hospitals for 20 years? Something else?" and they were silent. Correlation between Low Readmissions and High Death Rates Heidenreich et al. pubmed.gov/20650356 (2010) Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 56(5), 362-368.
Gorodeski, et al. pubmed.gov/20647209 (2010) New England Journal of Medicine, 363(3), 297-298.
American Hospital Association aha.org/research/reports/tw/11sep-tw-readmissions.pdf (2011) Trendwatch September 2011
Krumholz et al. pubmed.gov/23403683 (2013) Journal of the American Medical Association. 2013 Feb.13; 309(6): 587–593.
Gilman et al. pubmed.gov/25092831 (2014) Health Affairs, 33, no.8 (2014):1314-1322
Deaths Caused by a Program to Avoid Readmissions: Fan et al. pubmed.gov/22586006 (2012) Annals of Internal Medicine 2012 May 15; 156(10):673-83
Minorities Joynt et al. pubmed.gov/21325183 (2011) Journal of the American Medical Association. 2011 Feb 16;305(7):675-81
Rodriguez et al. pubmed.gov/21835285 (2011) American Heart Journal. 2011 Aug;162(2):254-261.e3
Joynt et al. pubmed.gov/23340629 (2013) Journal of the American Medical Association. 2013 Jan 23;309(4):342-3
Interviews Dr Ashish Jha, of Harvard's School of Public Health, told PBS, "If you look at, for instance, the U.S. News [and World Report] publishes its list of top 50 hospitals. Those hospitals tend to have very low infection rates, very low mortality rates, very low death rates. Guess what? They tend to have very high readmission rates, because they do such a good job of keeping their patients alive that many of them are readmitted." Dr. Sunil Kripalani, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center told Fox News, "Among patients with heart failure, hospitals that have higher readmission rates actually have lower mortality rates. So, which would we rather have -- a hospital readmission or a death?" 1. MedPAC - Medical Payment Advisory Commission, bipartisan appointed by Congress
MedPAC, Report to Congress: Promoting Greater Efficiency in Medicare. June 2007
MedPAC, Report to the Congress: Reforming the Delivery System. June 2008
MedPAC, Report to Congress, Medicare Payment Policy. March 2012
MedPAC, Report to Congress, Medicare Payment Policy. March 2013
MedPAC, Medicare ACO Update, April 2013, Glass & Stensland MedPAC, Report to Congress, Medicare & the Healthcare Delivery System. June 2013 MedPAC, Data Book. June 2013 MedPAC Report to Congress, Medicare Payment Policy, March 2014
2. See also Medicare Recommendations 1. Readmission Rules
42 CFR 412.154 - Regulations for the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. Medicare's summary web page and separate page of information for FY 2016 August 4, 2014 Final Rule for Fiscal Year 2015 (which starts October 2014) May 15, 2014 Proposal for Fiscal Year 2015 (which starts October 2014) or individual sections
August 19, 2013 Final Rule for Fiscal Year 2014 (which starts October 2013) or individual sections
May 10, 2013 Proposal for Fiscal Year 2014 (which starts October 2013) or individual sections
August 31, 2012 Final Rule for Fiscal Year 2013 (which started October 2012) or individual sections
2. Methodology for Counting Readmissions
3. Medicare Budget President, The Budget for Fiscal Year 2014, April 2013
Dept. of Health and Human Services 2014 Budget in Brief, April 2013
Dept. of Health and Human Services 2014 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees, April(?) 2013
Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds 2013 Annual Report, April 2013 Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds 2012 Annual Report, April 2012 Earlier Trustee Reports Congressional Budget Office, Letter to Majority Leader, November 2009 "Estimate of Effects on Direct Spending and Revenues for Non-Coverage Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act By fiscal year, in billions of dollars. ... 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2010-2019 Hospital Readmissions -0.1 -0.3 -1.1 -1.3 -1.3 -1.4 -1.5 -7.1 Reduction Program" (p.26) 4. Accountable Care Organizations 42 CFR Part 425 - Medicare Shared Savings Program December 21, 2012 ACO 2013 Program Analysis Quality Performance Standards Narrative Measure Specifications November 2, 2011 Final Rule for ACOs 2011 Pioneer ACO Request for Application 2009 Physician Group Practice Demonstration Evaluation Report (PGP)
5. See also list of reports from MedPAC, a Congressional Agency Hospital bills for 100 most common diagnoses, 2011 and 2012, for US and each hospital.
Explanation of General Medicare Payment Formula for Hospitals The explanation is based on information from
Many numbers change each year. There are links to Medicare's "home page" of each year at the bottom of the main CMS readmission page.
DRG weight
Hospital operating base or "Specific standardized amounts"
Hospital capital base
Both hospital bases are multiplied by the DRG weight (Table 5). Readmission reduction for "excess" readmissions in past years, based on operating costs plus payments for new technology, but excluding capital, and adjusted for transfers. DSH for poor people
IME for teaching
Outlier payments for very costly hospital stays cover 80% of hospital losses over $23,000 (90% for burns). These total about $16 billion per year and they average about 2.9% of payments for most procedures, including the procedures subject to readmission penalties. They are higher on a few other procedures. Summary inpatient costs released by Medicare include DRG amount (operating + capital), disproportionate share, teaching, and outlier payments. Operating cost (the base for readmission penalties) is about 73% of these summary costs. Transfers after short stay get lower payment New technology add-on payment (NTAP) added if applicable Large Urban Areas get extra factor, meaning Metro Statistical Areas over 1 million people and New England County Metro Areas over 970,000. Organ acquisition is paid separately Value-based purchasing VBP has adjustments, based on operating costs, not capital. Sole community hospitals (SCH) are paid by other formulas if higher Medicare dependent hospitals (MDH) are paid by another formula if higher Low volume hospitals get more, by formula Qualifying hospitals are in the bottom quartile of counties on Medicare spending per enrollee, and get more Hospitals not reporting quality data get reduction General sites: 1. Hospital data
Financial data are on a separate page Medicare has a summary page for each year since 2013, and links to a "home page" for hospital data each year since 2012 (called IPPS Rule) at the bottom of the main CMS readmission page (and the bottom of the left navigation menu, which is often the only link for the coming year).
Item 4, the Readmissions file, is the source of "Number" and "Readmit Rate" for each of the 5 medical categories in our "Combined list" of all hospitals (methods). The file also shows the number of patients set aside from the data for various reasons (transfers, deaths, etc.), and the total DRG weights of readmitted patients (reflecting their costs). Item 1, the Impact file, is the source of the price and wage adjustments in our Combined List. Files of death rates and other quality measures for hospital and other patients. These ignore deaths of people who have been in hospice any time in the past year. (methods) Medicare has data each year, called tables, on:
Hospital bills for 100 most common diagnoses, each year from 2011 on. Medicare gives away software to calculate readmission risk. It focuses attention on the frailest patients who are most likely to be readmitted in spite of better care, so are natural targets to promote hospice, comfort care and DNR, even if their condition is treatable. Data on hospitals' use of Electronic Health Records are on a separate Medicare page. 2. Nursing Home data are on another page 3. Patient and beneficiary data Medicare has counts for each year since 1985, more detailed in the most recent years. File of interviews and spending for representative sample of 13,000 Medicare patients living in the community, 2013-2017 (free, 50 megabytes/year) Medicare Advantage Plans (Part C) encounters with patients. File of 15,000,000 hospitalized Medicare patients ($3,700 per year, on DVD) Other data National Center for Health Statistics has surveys of people and institutions 4. Doctor and treatment data Medicare has counts and costs for the procedures and tests billed by each doctor and other provider in 2012. Data on doctors' use of Electronic Health Records are on a separate Medicare page. 5. Drug Use and Costs are on another page. 6. Medical Equipment Medicare lists doctors who prescribe medical equipment and supplies, by type of equipment, showing numbers and costs, but the file is not organized by provider, so you cannot compare prices at different providers. The goal seems to be to press doctors to prescribe less, rather than help patients or doctors find the best or popular providers. 7. Other sources Topics are also covered in the MedPAC, Data Book. June 2013 The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has data on costs and disease. Medicare shows, by state or county, number of beneficiaries, as well as users and providers of ambulances, labs, home health, skilled nursing facilities, and hospices. TOPICS |
4. Pain and Palliative Doctors Compared
The Board Certification for "Pain Management" devotes far more time to assessment and treatment of pain, both drug and non-drug, and a little more time to psychological issues. The Palliative and Hospice subspecialty devotes more time to communication and death. Both devote similar time to legal and ethical issues.
Pain Assessment 14% Diagnostic Testing 11% | Pain Assessment 4.5% |
Types of Pain 12% Pharmacology 16% | Pain Management 10.5% Other Pain Topics 5% Palliative Sedation <2% Other Topics in Medical Management <2% |
Pain Medicine Therapies (Nonpharmacology) 15% | Additional Management Strategies (mostly nondrug) 2.5% |
Psychological/Behavioral Aspects of Pain 10% | Psychosocial and Spiritual Considerations 11% (of which 7% is psychosocial) |
Compensation/Disability and Medical‐Legal Issues 7% | Ethical and Legal Decision Making 7% |
Anatomy and Physiology 15% | Approach to Care 9% Communication and Teamwork 6% Other Common Conditions (other than pain) 15% Urgent Medical Conditions 5% Prognostication and Natural History of Serious Illness 8% Impending Death 9% Grief and Bereavement 5% Discontinuation of Technological Support (breathing, dialysis, etc.) 1.5% |
Telehealth Companies
All states now allow doctors to see patients by telehealth even from the first appointment, if they have the right license, but distant doctors refer too rarely to other local specialists, since they don't know them, so patients need to ask.
"Affordable teletherapy, such as Open Path Psychotherapy Collective, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine or apps like Talkspace or Betterhelp. Your state may offer options too (New York state has a Covid-19 Emotional Support Helpline)."
Concierge and luxury medicine are on a separate page
Software Apps
Some apps will call a doctor to give you a home visit, or you can use lists here to find doctors who visit homes and assisted living, and call them directly to build a relationship with the same doctor over time.
Some computer systems go through your symptoms and tell you possible diagnoses. 19 systems ranged from 5% to 50% "right" on a 2014 test of 45 vignettes (sets of symptoms, 18 computer systems and one paper system), published in 2015. "Right" means the single diagnosis which the authors of the vignettes expected. No one checked if the other diagnoses offered were also fully consistent with the symptoms given, or perhaps even more consistent.
A long list of other systems use the same algorithms and would have had the same results. Many nurse help telephone lines use the same algorithms and would have about the same results, except when accuracy is changed by the nurses' own judgment.
When the systems were asked for the 3 most likely diagnoses, they included the "right" diagnosis as one of these 3 from 29% to 71% of the time, depending on system. Researchers at Harvard and 3 Boston Hospitals did the test. In 2016 they tested 234 doctors, who identified the "right" diagnosis 72% of the time and got it in their top 3 possibilities 84% of the time. Researchers did not report the range of accuracy from doctor to doctor, as they did for computer systems, but success did not vary much by level of training (intern, resident, attending doctor).
Amazon and Google are expected to expand into health care.
Referral Services
Referral services may give local or distant referrals.
ZendyHealth refers you to a local provider based on how much you want to pay ($49 referral fee). They cover only a few procedures, primarily imaging, tests, counseling, dental extractions or implants, cosmetic procedures. For these and other procedures they also refer you for a free consultation. More details are on the Costs page.
PinnacleCare charges $650 to set up a consultation with a specialist and transfer medical records.
GrandRounds.com (formerly ConsultingMD.com) refers patients to local or distant doctors for initial care or second opinions and transfers medical records to them. They charge $200 to arrange an initial office visit with a local doctor in the "top" 3% or 10% of local doctors, or $7,500 for a remote expert opinion from a doctor in the "top" 0.1%. They also charge $7,500 for "STAT," an emergency telephone consult with the best doctor they can find at short notice.
- The first time you use their services they need time to collect your health records from your doctors and hospitals, and (with your permission) provide them to the doctors they refer you to. They do not say whether your health records are encrypted while stored in their offices.
- They offer their telephone consult ("STAT") 24/7, but don't say how many hours it may take to find a relevant expert. They're ambiguous whether the expert talks to the patient/family or the treating doctor. If you cite both those links to them, you can insist they talk to both.
- The emergency STAT service is expensive, and is based on the idea that Grand Rounds has pre-identified doctors willing to consult by phone, which you would have trouble finding in an emergency. Dr. Kussin recommends that when you know what health conditions you have, make an annual appointment with a top specialist for a checkup, so you can call him/her as an existing patient in any emergency (p.206).
- The non-emergency $7,500 expert opinion seems aimed at big spenders. They warn you that the expert will not have "information that would be obtained by examining you in person and observing your physical condition." Without spending that much you can identify the top national experts in the Specialists tab above, and in your $20 subscription to UpToDate from Wolters Kluwer, call for an appointment, and go see them in person.
- Their $200 fee to recommend and set up a local office visit is reasonable. You pay them to research doctors and transfer records instead of doing it yourself. You and your insurance will still have to pay for the visit itself.
- A problem with Grand Rounds is that the terms of service require you to pay their legal bills for any problems which arise: "You agree to indemnify, defend and hold the Company and its directors, officers, employees, agents and contractors harmless from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, costs (including without limitation reasonable attorneys’ fees) or other expenses that arise directly or indirectly out of or from (i) your breach of any provision of these Terms, or (ii) your activities in connection with this Site." They don't provide any examples, but perhaps this would protect them if they misuse your information.
- Grand Rounds does not reveal its algorithm to identify top doctors, but says it includes: "Institution (is the physician associated with a top-quality one?), Training (where did the physician study?), Research (does the physician publish in his or her area of study?), Reputation (what do the physician’s peers think?)" Another page adds, "procedure volumes; and clinical outcomes." Another page says that the doctors' "success rates are well above national averages and that they follow state-of-the-art care practices." They say these top 10% doctors have "15% lower hospital readmission rates. 30% – 40% lower mortality rates, 20% – 25% lower complication rates, but again no information on how these differences were found, over what time frame, comparability of patients, etc. They describe their service as doing some of the same analysis this website describes, on procedure volumes, doctors rating other doctors, and researchers. They simplify the process, while hiding the details.
PinnacleCare and Private Health Management help wealthy clients navigate the health-care system, for $16,000 per year or more, plus the cost of care.
Concierge
Industry sources include Concierge Medicine Today, Direct Primary Care Journal, and Direct Primary Care Coalition.
PinnacleCare and Private Health Management help wealthy clients navigate the health-care system, for $16,000 per year or more, plus the cost of care.
Screening Hospital Patients for Wealth
- 82% of these hospitals ask doctors and nurses to identify hospital patients with enough gratitude and money to donate (p.15), though these staff are not trained to do this, and have varying comfort with it. 34% of the hospitals track the doctors' referrals (p.11). 21% send solicitation letters signed by doctors (p.16) 69% plan to increase "focus on physician/clinical staff engagement in patient referrals" (p.19).
- 57% screen inpatients for wealth by sending their identities to data brokers; all but 3% of the rest screen later; 44% flag VIPs and donors in their electronic health records; 13% also screen people with outpatient appointments (p.15).
- A quarter gave care coordination services and medical concierge services to patients they identified as potential significant donors or who joined a formal donor program; 43% gave non-clinical benefits, like a parking pass (p.16).
- Over 40% had hospital executives and fundraisers visit the patients in their hospital rooms (p.16), to build a relationship with the patient, not to ask for money initially. Patients would not necessarily know the hospital had screened them online to identify their wealth.
- To find rich people, they have to send all patients' IDs to the data brokers, revealing that all these people (rich and poor alike) have been patients in that hospital system. Data brokers know what the illnesses are by the patients' search and web-browsing histories, and maybe their prescription histories.
Luxury Hospital Rooms
Below is a list compiled from news reports, sorted by city. Dates are given, since prices may have risen and services changed. Costs shown are for luxury rooms, in addition to regular room charge. Click list to see sources.
List of Sources
2019 www.enherts-tr.nhs.uk/patients-visitors/our-services/maternity/amenity-rooms/ £195 per day
2018 economist.com/britain/2018/04/26/delivering-a-prince-in-britain-costs-less-than-the-average-american-birth £5,670 per 24 hours
2016 capitalandmain.com/healthcare-versus-wealthcare-uncovering-ucla-vip-medical-program-0913 $12,000/year
2016 forbesmiddleeast.com/the-luxury-hospital-a-new-niche
2016 bu.edu/research/articles/luxury-hospital-rooms/ Boston Univ. School of Hospitality Administration says many patients willing to spend $100s more for better hospital rooms
2014 money.cnn.com/2014/10/02/luxury/luxury-hospital-suites/ $250-$5,100
2014 therichest.com/luxury/the-10-most-luxurious-hospital-rooms-in-the-world incl. Washington Hospital Ctr, Mt. Sinai, Cedars-Sinai
2014 youtu.be/z6dmAs2H_DI CBS says luxury leads to lower readmission and 1/3 the cost for some procedures
2012 nytimes.com/2012/01/22/nyregion/chefs-butlers-and-marble-baths-not-your-average-hospital-room.html "no people in training — only the best of the best."
2012 articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-02-26/health/fl-hk-hospital-luxury-suite-20120226_1_hospitals-offer-south-florida-hospital-community-hospitals $150-$800/night
2012 nydailynews.com/new-york/class-ward-lenox-hill-hospital-article-1.1186213 $850-$2,400/night. Nurse overwork on non-luxury floor.
2007 denverpost.com/news/ci_7746964 "bring revenue into the hospital, that foster relationships" $250-$1,000/night "society that is naturally stratified by income," said Uwe Reinhardt, a health economist at Princeton University in New Jersey.
2006 forbes.com/2006/12/11/luxury-hospitals-health-forbeslife-cx_avd_1212hospital_slide.html
2005 utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050904/news_1n4hospital.html (associated press)
2003 forbes.com/2003/07/08/cx_ns_0708healthintro.html#3afbcd9d4153 "for every Big Shot who checks into a high-end unit there's a regular Joe who splurged for his comfort."
nd parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/labor-and-delivery/labor-and-delivery-most-luxurious-birthing-suites
nd dujour.com/lifestyle/luxury-hospital-accommodations/ They comment, "unclear whether hospitals are actually turning a profit from this enterprise. What they are doing, however, is cultivating future donors"
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The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) May 2 2017 summarizes a lot of research on how payments from drug and equipment companies affect doctors' decisions, usually sub-consciously. Where policies change or payments stop or start, average prescribing practices then change. Public Citizen has a less detailed November 2017 update.
A 2021 study found that dental research supported by companies found larger effects of treatment than independent research.
Nurses also get payments and meals from drug companies, but only Massachusetts tracks these payments.
Drug companies also have constant access to doctors and give them biased information. A 2012 summary found (emphasis in the original):
- 61% of physicians reported that their own behavior was immune to influence by industry, but only 16% thought that other physicians’ behavior was equally secure
- sometimes the suggestion that such influence exists can be infuriating to them
- The frequency of meetings with pharmaceutical representatives varied across specialties, ranging from two per month for anesthesiologists to 16 per month for family practitioners
- representatives presented only selected, usually positive, information about their products
- In one of the few studies of specific [training] content, 11% of statements in formal lunch presentations by pharmaceutical representatives were found to be inaccurate, all favorable toward the promoted drug, yet only 26% of medical residents attending those presentations recalled hearing any false statement. All statements about competing drugs were accurate, but none favorable
- research supported by industry is more likely to report positive results—3.6 times as likely, according to one meta-analysis
- One study of industry-sponsored review articles and Cochrane [academic] reviews on the same medications found that all of the former recommended the drug in question whereas none of the latter did
- 85% of [US medical students] who thought that accepting a small gift or lunch was inappropriate reported accepting them anyway. This may be partially explained by the fact that 93% of the students had been asked or required by a faculty member to attend a sponsored lunch
- In one survey of internal medicine residents, 100% of those who thought interactions with industry were inappropriate accepted at least a lunch or a pen
- In a random sample of physicians in six specialties in the United States, 94% reported some relationship with industry (18). Eighty-three percent reported receiving food or beverages in the workplace; 78% received samples
- Clinicians often describe the role of samples as helping those who cannot afford medications to receive treatment... Physicians themselves report that samples influence them to prescribe drugs that differ from their preferred choices (32). Although the initial reason may be to avoid cost to the patient, most samples are of the newest and most expensive medications, which patients may not be able to afford after their samples run out. Further, the side effects of newer medications are usually less well established
Life Expectancy, by Age
CDC has instructions to doctors on filling out death certificates, but there are weaknesses and errors, especially for the minority of patients who die without a recent doctor visit.
An example of under-treating old people is for cancer care, even though most cancer patients are old.
Average Years of Life Remaining, at Each Age, US Population, 2014
Doctors' Inaccurate Predictions of Life Expectancy
The C statistic is an estimate, from a research project on particular patients, how often an index is more accurate than chance. Values range from 0.50 (no better than chance) to 1.00 (always right). C statistics for different groups of patients are in supplementary tables 1-4 of Yurkovich et al. (2015) Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. v.68(1):3–14. "A systematic review identifies valid comorbidity indices derived from administrative health data." Details of how big the errors are may be found in the original studies, listed by Yurkovich et al.
An older study is Sharabiani et al. (2012 Dec) Medical Care. v.50(12):1109-18. "Systematic review of comorbidity indices for administrative data." . doi: 10.1097/MLR.0b013e31825f64d0 pubmed.gov/22929993
US Life Expectancy Stopped Improving

Life Expectancy by Location

Life expectancy is a good summary of health in the area, since it is a summary of death rates at all ages in each county. It is not a prediction for babies born in the county, since their lifetimes will depend on future death rates, not current or past ones.
Associated Press has a map of life expectancy for each US Census tract (smaller than counties) for 2017 from the National Center for Health Statistics, with an article discussing it.
CountyHealthRankings.org has detail on each county's health. West Virginia University analyzed it nationally, and found the top-ranked counties have less of the following problems (pages 83-85):
- lack of sleep and exercise
- physical and mental distress
- diabetes
- obesity
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and sexually transmitted diseases
- segregation
- air particulates
- smoking
- drunk-driving (but no difference in drinking overall)
- drug and car deaths
- violent crime
Local life expectancy is persistent for at least 34 years, 1980-2014. The lowest counties stayed below average and the highest counties stayed above average. Average US life expectancy rose 5 years, from 74 to 79, and most of the lowest counties rose a bit more, getting closer to average, which is encouraging. However the most common rise was 4 years, and 71% of counties rose 3, 4 or 5 years, so they mostly stayed close to where they were 34 years before.
Life Added by Hospital Treatment
Table H. Lives Saved by More Hospital Treatment
Heart Failure
Starting in 2013, US hospitals are treating fewer patients for heart failure, and US death rates from heart failure are rising. Starting at the end of 2012, Medicare began penalizing hospitals for heart failure patients who were re-hospitalized (readmitted) within 30 days. Hospitals cannot always prevent readmissions, so the most effective way to avoid penalties has been to cut the number of Medicare patients they admit for heart failure.
Hospitals treated 60,000 fewer patients for heart failure in mid 2012-mid 2015, than in mid 2008-mid 2011, or 20,000 fewer patients during a year, compared to four years earlier, before the penalties.
(Source, column CZ of: globe1234.org/hospitals1216.xls)
CDC says in the US:
- Death rates from heart failure fell every year from 2000 to 2012,
- Death rates from heart failure rose in 2013 and 2014.
- Source: cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db231.pdf, CDC instructions on defining causes of death: cdc.gov/nchs/data/misc/hb_cod.pdf
A 2017 editorial from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) said, "in 2014 alone, an estimated 5,008 excess [Heart Failure] patient deaths were associated with [readmissions program] implementation." pubmed.gov/28982507
A 2020 analysis, also from ACC, "presented the pros and cons that argued for a modified policy, which would not reduce safety in hospitals and put greater weight on mortality and patient-reported outcomes as opposed to readmission." pubmed.gov/31606360
A 2018 paper from ACC said to count separately Type 1 heart attacks caused by athersclerosis and Type 2 heart attacks caused by "embolism, vasospasm, and spontaneous coronary artery dissection." pubmed.gov/30165988
The term "heart failure" is also called "congestive heart failure" or cardiomyopathy. It refers to weak pumping because of muscle deterioration, stiffness, leaking valves, etc. It is not the same as a heart attack or heart stopping.
These are the latest figures which cover hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients, but many other studies of hospitalized patients also find that hospitals which had fewer readmissions had more deaths, especially among heart failure patients.
(Source: globe1234.info/medicare/category/research)
Medicare said in August 2012, "We are committed to monitoring the measures and assessing unintended consequences over time, such as the inappropriate shifting of care, increased patient morbidity and mortality, and other negative unintended consequences for patients." (p.53376) They have not reported any of these monitoring results in 4 years.
(Source: federalregister.gov/d/2012-19079/p-1799)
The penalties apply to patients treated under Medicare Part B. Hospitals which face the readmission penalties now admit 5% fewer Part B patients for heart failure, even though the total number of seniors covered by Part B increased 12% in the same period.
Readmission penalties give hospitals incentives to treat fewer seniors. Medicare even gives hospitals an online tool to predict readmission risk for each potential patient.
Hospitals can avoid penalties by any mix of the following:
- Avoid admitting the sickest Medicare patients with heart failure ("There's not much we can do for you. Hospitals are dangerous. You're better off at home.")
- Treat as many as possible of the least sick outside of hospitals
- Change diagnosis to "hypervolemia," too much water in the blood, which is not penalized, but risky if caught
- Improve subsequent care for those admitted, to reduce readmissions
It is easier to give less care than to improve it, though hospitals certainly are doing both. And what we see is that death rates have started to rise.
The following hospitals had the biggest drops in heart failure patients admitted, comparing the most recent 3-year period to the 3 years before penalties:
St Vincent's Medical Center Riverside, Jacksonville, FL, -871 patients
Northwest Community Hospital 1, Arlington Heights, IL, -779 patients
Baptist Medical Center, San Antonio, TX, -724
Community Medical Center, Toms River, NJ, -570
St Luke's Hospital Bethlehem, PA, -543
King's Daughters' Medical Center, Ashland, KY, -536
Beaumont Hospital - Dearborn, MI, -517
Hackensack University Medical Center, NJ, -504
Vassar Brothers Medical Center, Poughkeepsie, NY, -454 patients
On the other hand these hospitals may have unique reasons for their changes, and the real story may be among all the other hospitals with smaller drops in heart failure patients. Changes at all hospitals are in a spreadsheet (in column CZ; changes in Part B enrollment are in column DL):
globe1234.org/hospitals1216.xls
I counted hospital admissions in July 2012-June 2015, compared to July 2008-June 2011. These are the newest and oldest comparable data available. Medicare released the older data in a comparable form in May 2013. It released the newer data in August 2016.
Hospitals face readmission penalties when they treat Medicare patients for heart failure. Each hospital pays a penalty if more of their heart failure patients than the US average need another hospital stay within a month. So hospitals know they have a 50% chance of a penalty, since about half the hospitals will have readmission rates above average each year.
Other Penalties
A study in the US and Norway found that care for the oldest heart attack victims in 2010-2015 was much less than for younger victims and less than evidence shows is worthwhile. Even inexpensive treatment, like statins, was not provided. "The less frequent treatment of the oldest of the old, without even use of basic medications, suggests potential age-related bias and a disconnect with the evidence on treatment value. Hospital organization and payment in both countries should incentivize greater equity in treatment use across ages." Any effect of readmission penalties is unclear, since penalties started in 2012, in the middle of the study period, and the authors did not show separate results by year.
For pneumonia, which is the other of the three original readmission penalties, a 2018 JAMA study found higher deaths within 30 days after the readmission penalties started, though no significant change in deaths within 45 days.
In the pneumonia data we have to compare 3 year periods ending June 2014 and June 2011, since Medicare expanded the pneumonia categories counted in later periods. Pneumonia admissions fell 4% over that period, while the number of Part B beneficiaries rose 9%. Death rates oscillate each year but were on a downward trend from 1999-2012. It looks as if the trend may not have continued in 2013 and 2014, though it is hard to tell.
statista.com/statistics/184574/deaths-by-influenza-and-pneumonia-in-the-us-since-1950
cdc.gov/nchs/data/health_policy/influenza-and-pneumonia-deaths-2008-2015.pdf
Readmission penalties are large. Hospitals get $6,000 for treating a Medicare heart failure patient, but pay a $27,000 penalty for each readmission within 30 days, above the national average rate. For other conditions penalties range from $25,000 to $239,000 per readmission above the national average rate. So every hospital tries to be below the average, driving the average down and the risk of penalties up every year. There are also minimal adjustments for the mix of patients each hospital serves. Penalties total $469 million this year.
There are newer penalties for re-hospitalizing patients after coronary bypasses. The penalty is $188,000 for each one above the national average rate; penalties began October 2017. Penalties after elective hip and knee replacements are $239,000 and began October 2014. The penalty calculations are written into the Affordable Care Act. It is too early to see if the number of people treated has fallen, but the American College of Surgeons warned Medicare that treatment would be cut: "the potential that these hospitals will decrease their care for such patients, thereby creating an access issue."
(Source: regulations.gov/contentStreamer?documentId=CMS-2013-0084-0090&attachmentNumber=1&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf)
In 67 metro areas, Medicare has a second way to discourage hip and knee replacements, especially for the frailest patients who may need them most: the hospital must pay nearly all medical expenses for 90 days after the hospital stay, though it has no control over these costs. Fewer hip and knee replacements and fewer coronary bypasses, when Medicare patients need them, condemn seniors to reduced activity and faster decline.
(Source: globe1234.info/medicare/publiccomment)
For heart attacks and coronary bypasses, Medicare plans the same approach of making hospitals pay 90 days of medical costs, starting July 2017, in 98 metro areas.
federalregister.gov/d/2016-17733/p-3
federalregister.gov/d/2016-17733/p-753
Another page explains some arithmetic behind the readmission penalty calculations, which give hospitals a strong incentive to serve fewer patients.
A. Example of One Hospital
B. Cutting Admissions Cuts the Readmission Penalty, for Any or All Hospitals
C. Cutting Readmissions in the Proportion at All Hospitals Leaves All Penalties the Same
D. Cutting Readmissions at Some Hospitals Shifts the Penalty
E. Other Approaches Do Not Cut the National Total of Penalties
F. Formulas
G. Graphs of Heart Failure
The only way hospitals overall can reduce the national total of penalties they pay is by treating fewer patients. The arithmetic behind this statement is explained here.
The national total of penalties mathematically equals the penalty per excess readmission, times the number of excess readmissions. Excess means above the national average readmission rate.
A. Example of One Hospital
Consider a hospital with a patient mix similar to the national average (adjustments for patient mix are small, so most hospitals end up like the national average). Suppose this hospital admits 500 patients for one of the treatments subject to readmission penalties.
If the hospital readmits 125 patients, it has a 25% readmission rate.
Suppose the national readmission rate is 20%. At this hospital that national rate would have meant 100 readmissions expected.
The hospital has 25 excess readmissions (= 125 ~ 100).
Since readmission rates are fairly well spread above and below the average, close to half of patients are in hospitals with below-average readmission rates, and half are in hospitals with above-average readmission rates. The latter thus have excess readmissions and pay penalties on them. These hospitals face choices described below,
B. Cutting Admissions Cuts the Penalty, for Any or All Hospitals
Suppose the example hospital cuts admissions 4% without changing its 25% readmission rate:
When a hospital cuts admissions (from 500 to 480) while keeping a similar readmission rate (25%) in that smaller pool of admissions, it reduces four important counts:
- admissions (to 480),
- readmissions (to 120 = 25% of 480),
- expected readmissions (to 96, which is 20% of 480), and
- excess readmissions (to 24, which is 120 ~ 96).
If all hospitals cut admissions similarly, they all cut their penalties, even when their readmission rates do not fall.
Data show hospitals have reduced admissions for heart failure, heart attack and pneumonia, and thus reduced the total national penalties.
C. Cutting Readmissions in the Same Way at All Hospitals Leaves All Penalties the Same
Suppose all hospitals, on average, cut readmissions four percent (from 20% to 19.2%) without cutting admissions. They get no benefit, because the penalty per excess readmission goes up; it is controlled by another formula:
The penalty per excess readmission equals the cost of initial treatment divided by the national readmission rate (MedPac June'13 p.99).
For example suppose the initial treatment averages $6,000. A national readmission rate of 20% means a penalty of $6,000 / 0.2 = $30,000. But when the national readmission rate drops to 19.2%, the penalty becomes $6,000 / 0.192 = $31,250.
Suppose the hospital in the example above cuts readmissions 4% (same as the nation) from 125 to 120, without cutting admissions. Now it faces expected readmissions of 96 (= 500 x .192), and has 24 excess readmissions. Its penalty was $750,000 (= 25 x $30,000), and still is $750,000 (= 24 x $31,250).
When admissions stay the same and the national readmission rate goes down, the penalty per excess readmission goes up, and every hospital which manages to cut at the same rate as the nation keeps the same penalty.
D. Cutting Readmissions at Some Hospitals Shifts the Penalty
Hospitals shift the penalty to other hospitals when they cut readmissions. Suppose a hospital cuts its readmission rate by 4% instead of cutting admissions:
If other hospitals on average don't cut their readmission rates, so the national average stays at 20%, the example hospital's expected readmissions do not change (100 = 500 x 20%). The hospital's total readmissions fall from 125 to 120, so excess readmissions drop from 25 to 20, and the hospital's penalty drops 20%.
Now think nationally, where many hospitals cut readmissions. Think of a million patients with 200,000 readmissions (20%).
- (a) 500,000 patients were at hospitals with readmissions below average, and
- (b) 500,000 were at hospitals with readmissions above average.
- 300,000 each of groups (a) and (b) are at hospitals which cut their readmission rates by an average of 1% of admissions (such as from 25% to 24% of admissions at a particular hospital, or or 19% to 18%), so 6,000 admissions are no longer readmitted.
- 200,000 patients remain at hospitals with excess readmissions which on average make no change in their excess readmissions (some rise a little, some fall a little)
- Hospitals in group (b) which cut readmissions (call them "cutters") saved penalties on 3,000 excess readmissions
- National readmission rate will drop by 6,000 or 0.6% of the million admissions, from 200,000 to 194,000, which is from 20% to 19.4%
- All hospitals face an expected readmission rate which has dropped by 0.6 percentage points (readmissions as percent of admissions at each hospital)
- 500,000 patients at hospitals with readmissions above average (including cutter hospitals) face a lower cutoff for excess readmissions. The cutoff used to be 20% or 100,000, now it is 19.4% or 97,000, which adds 3,000 new excess readmissions, 1,800 at the cutter hospitals, 1,200 at the non-cutter hospitals
- Cutter hospitals cut their net excess readmissions by 1,200, not 3,000
- Penalty per excess readmission will rise from $30,000 to $30,928 (= $6,000 / .194)
- Cutter hospitals pay the higher penalty on all their other excess readmissions. If their 300,000 patients averaged 21% readmissions, which are now down to 20% readmissions, they had excess readmissions 21% ~ 20% = 3,000, and now have 20% ~ 19.4% = 1,800. So penalties dropped by $34 million, from $90 million to $56 million
- If the 200,000 patients at non-cutter hospitals also averaged 21% readmissions, they had excess 21% ~ 20% = 2,000 and now have 21% ~ 19.4% = 3,200, so penalties rose by $39 million, from $60 million to $99 million
- An unknown number of the 500,000 patients are at hospitals with readmissions between 19.4% and 20% which now also have excess readmissions and pay penalties.
Cutting readmissions at some hospitals reduces their penalties, and shifts the penalties to hospitals which did not reduce readmissions as much. Whether the shifting is exact depends on the detailed distribution of readmission rates among the hospitals
E. Other Approaches Do Not Cut the National Total of Penalties
The penalty and national total of penalties could theoretically be reduced by cutting the cost of initial treatment, but Medicare already cuts it as much as they think they can.
Arithmetically the only other way to reduce the national total of penalties is to narrow the dispersion of hospitals below the national rate: raising readmissions in hospitals below the national average. This lets more readmissions be in low hospitals than high hospitals. This does not cause the low-rate hospitals a penalty, and it cuts the number of excess readmissions for high-rate hospitals. No one advocates this or is working on it, and hospitals could not count on it as a strategy.
F. Formulas
US Total =
(penalty per excess readmission) x (number of excess readmissions)
Which is:
(initial payment / readmission rate) x (number of excess readmissions)
Which is:
(initial payment / [total readmissions / total admissions] ) x (number of excess readmissions)
Which is:
(initial payment x total admissions / total readmissions) x (number of excess readmissions)
So US Total =
(initial payment) x (total admissions) x (number of excess readmissions / total readmissions)
The last parenthesis, excess over total readmissions, reflects the dispersion of readmission rates. For example a ratio of 0.04 means the average penalized hospital has 4% more readmissions than the national average.
The ratio of excess over total readmissions has risen for pneumonia and dropped for heart conditions:
2012-15 2008-11
4.06% 3.91% Pneumonia
3.27% 3.70% Heart Failure
2.94% 4.07% Heart Attacks
4.77% Hip & Knee Replacements
3.58% COPD
3.39% Coronary Bypasses
G. Graphs of Heart Failure
A more plausible alternative of reducing all readmission rates at all hospitals does move down the dark blue and light blue lines, and does not change the ratio of excess to total readmissions, so it does not reduce the national total of readmission penalties.
The most recent penalties are in the readmissions spreadsheet, for fiscal year 2017 (10/1/2016 to 9/30/2017).
For other types of penalties, this site has older data, for 2015, in the financial spreadsheet, except Electronic Health Records (EHR, see below). United States and state totals are here. EHR totals by state for 2011-2014 are here.
A. HRRP: HOSPITAL READMISSIONS REDUCTION PROGRAM PENALTY
Formal readmissions penalty rules are at 42 CFR 412.152 and 154.
The number of excess readmissions at each hospital, for each diagnosis, derives from two numbers in Medicare's "Readmissions Supplemental File" for the current year:
- Medicare provides the ratio of each hospital's own readmission rate, to the national readmission rate (adjusted for patient mix): (readmit@hosp/admit@hosp) / (readmit@US/admit@US)
- The readmissions spreadsheet subtracts one from that ratio to get just the excess readmission rate at each hospital (still as fraction of national readmission rate): (excess@hosp/admit@hosp) / (readmit@US/admit@US)
- The spreadsheet then multiplies by the national readmission rate (readmit@US/admit@US), to get the hospital's own excess readmission rate: (excess@hosp/admit@hosp)
- The spreadsheet then multiplies by the number of admissions at the hospital (also provided by Medicare, in the same file) to get the number of excess readmissions at the hospital: (excess@hosp)
Medicare's full payment calculation is described in the Payments section. For the local cost level at each hospital, the readmissions spreadsheet calculates a weighted average of 2 numbers, which Medicare provides in the "Impact File" for the current year:
- Wage index for labor-related share of operations
- Cost of living factor for nonlabor share of operations (1 except in Alaska and Hawaii)
Besides dollar estimates described above, the readmissions spreadsheet also shows penalties as a percent of hospital revenue for each of the 6 diagnoses affected. Section F below explains how this is estimated.
In the financial spreadsheet the total readmission penalty at each hospital is Medicare's Readmissions Adjustment Factor times each hospital's "wage-adjusted DRG operating payment plus any applicable new technology add-on... [including] adjustment for transfers" (42 CFR 412.152), same base as VBP, with a different adjustment factor. Subtotals for the 5 diagnoses are based on the national cost of treatment and each hospital's excess readmissions, as shown in the readmissions spreadsheet.
B. HAC: HOSPITAL ACQUIRED CONDITIONS PENALTY
The 1% applies to all inpatient payments, including IME, DSH, outliers, uncompensated care, remote hospitals, early transfer. HAC penalties are calculated after deducting VBP and readmissions penalties (line 71, worksheet E in Medicare Cost reports, p.85 of the form in file R6P240f, 4 MB).
Formal HAC rules are at 42 CFR 412.170 and 172.
HAC penalties here are the same order of magnitude as found by a hospital software publisher 1/5/2015, with differences in detail, since they did not use Medicare's actual data.
C. VBP: VALUE-BASED PURCHASING PENALTY
Medicare provides the Adjustment Factors in .zip files, and calculates them from several measures (pdf item 25). The percent adjustments are scaled so the worst penalty is no more than 1.5% in FY 2015, 1.75% in 2016, 2% in 2017+, and the total bonuses equal the total penalties. After Medicare's correction, the actual range in 2015 was from a 1.24% penalty to a 2.09% bonus.
Formal VBP rules are at 42 CFR 412.160 to 167.
This "Value Based Purchasing" applies to hospitals, and is not the same as the "Value-Based Payment Modifier" also called "Value Modifier," which applies to doctors and doctor groups.
D. IQR: INPATIENT QUALITY REPORTING
The IQR payment cut is half a percent of inpatient payments. It is actually a quarter of the "increase in the market basket index" 42 CFR 412.64(d)(2)(i)(C). The annual increase in the market basket is 1.9% to 2.1% per year in FY2015, so a quarter of it is half a percent.
According to 42 U.S.C. 1395ww(b)(3)(B)(i), the IQR cut applies to 1395ww(d) "Inpatient hospital service payments" and 1395ww(j) "inpatient rehabilitation services". The financial spreadsheet therefore multiplies the half percent penalty by the total of inpatient hospital service payments, the same base as HAC above, or line 71 of worksheet E in the Medicare Cost reports.
Medicare says the IQR cut is 2%, which was true in FY 2007-2014: 42 CFR 412.64(d)(2)(i)(B).
Formal IQR rules are at 42 CFR 412.140 and 412.64(d)(2).
E. MU EHR: MEANINGFUL USE OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS
Incentive payments are a fraction of $2 to $6.37 million dollars per hospital, depending on number of patients discharged. The fraction paid in FY2015 is half of Medicare's fraction of the non-charity care (in FY2016 it is a quarter). Medicare has released the 2011-2014 incentive payments for each hospital (bottom of their data page, or see US and state totals). The peak year was 2013, when $4.6 billion went to 3,453 hospitals, an average of $1.3 million per hospital.
Penalties apply starting in 2015 to 200 hospitals for insufficient use of electronic health records. Medicare provided that number in a press briefing, but Medicare has not provided the list of hospitals with penalties, "We do not have the list posted publicly and at present do not intend to publicly post it until the appropriate disclosure reviews and analysis of the potential impact are completed" (email 4/9/15). The penalty in FY2015 is half a percent of inpatient payments (1/4 of market basket increase, the same amount as IQR, though on different hospitals): 42 CFR 412.64(d)(3)(i). It will double to half the increase in the market basket in FY2016 and 3/4 in FY2017 and later years (factsheet).
Meaningful Use means reaching 16 objectives with electronic health records. Outsiders have criticized it for perfection: missing any objective earns the full penalty. Outsiders have also criticized electronic records as a recipe for data breaches and impersonal interaction with doctors. In 2015, Medicare drafted changes, which were summarized by Modern Healthcare.
Formal MU EHR rules are at 42 CFR 412.64(d)(3) through (5) and 42 CFR 495
Finding electronic records for a patient is hard, since most names and birth dates are common. Other items like address, phone number, and insurance number can change. All items can have typos. Addresses can be abbreviated many different ways. Some people do not want to give their Social Security numbers, which can have typos too. In the last 100 years, there are only 36,500 unique birth dates. Some names are more common than that, and even names held by just a few thousand people can have common birth dates, since some names were common in some years. Medical systems try to avoid matching you to anyone else's records, so they may not match you to your own records if there is any ambiguity. Study by Pew.
F. READMISSION PENALTY PERCENTAGES
total penalty
total revenue
By definition, the total penalty is the number of extra readmissions (above the national rate) times the penalty for each. The total revenue is the number of admissions times the payment for each admission:
total penalty = #extra readmits x [penalty for each]
total revenue #admit x payment for each admission
As MedPAC says, the penalty equals the [payment for each admission, divided by the national readmission rate]
total penalty = #extra readmits x [payment for each admission / US readmission rate]
total revenue #admit x payment for each admission
which simplifies to:
total penalty = ________#extra readmits
total revenue #admit x US readmission rate
That denominator is the number of expected readmissions, since Medicare expects the US rate to apply to every hospital, with a small adjustment for patient mix.
total penalty = #extra readmits (adjusted for patient mix)
total revenue #expected
If we add 1 we get (adjusted for patient mix):
total penalty + 1 = #extra readmits + #expected
total revenue #expected
Remember the "extra readmits" means just actual readmits above those expected based on the national rate, so in the numerator, #extra plus #expected are the #actual
total penalty + 1 = #actual readmits
total revenue #expected
total penalty = #actual readmits − 1
total revenue #expected
Medicare provides this last ratio, #actual / #expected, adjusted for patient mix, so the spreadsheet subtracts one, to display total penalty / total revenue. Each calculation is approximate, because of the adjustment for patient mix, but those adjustments are small and average out across the country.
They also encourage telemedicine, to cut transportation emissions.
Foreign hospitals and doctors have their own payment systems for their residents, but still have prices for US travelers. They are not covered by Medicare, so hospital stays abroad do not incur readmission penalties, and do not count as costs in Accountable Care Organizations. Some US and international private insurance pays for foreign care. In any case costs are often much less than in the US, and specialized hospitals can give better care. Some of the best offer luxury as well as ordinary care.
Kiplinger (2017) says the book Patients beyond Borders, and its website have reviews of hospitals. I have not seen the book, but the website shows the size of each hospital, and often the total patients treated, though not the number of times doctors do any particular procedure, nor other measures of quality. You may have to ask.
US hospitals open foreign branches with local doctors.
- One list of top 10 hospitals, 2014 (bones, cancer, children, hearts, hernias). Best is in Maryland. 7 are abroad:
Asklepios Klinik Barmbek, Germany: Drugs, Equipment, Laboratory, Heart surgery, Cancer
Great Ormond Street Hospital, UK: Children, Children's heart or brain surgery, Children with cancer
Wooridul Spine Hospital, South Korea: Spine, Joints
Shouldice Hospital, Canada: Abdominal hernia
Bumrungrad International Hospital, Thailand: Most specialties
Anadolu Medical Center, Turkey: Cancer, Bone Marrow Transplant Center, Preventive medicine
Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore: Orthopedics, Cardiology, Cancer, Obstetrics, Gynecology
- Deloitte estimated in 2008 that 750,000 US residents went abroad for treatment in 2007, and about 400,000 foreigners came to the US for treatment. 28% of Medicare recipients would consider elective surgery abroad, with higher rates among Asians and Hispanics. Their 2016 report says Thailand and Mexico are the top destinations, and they expect growth in Cuba now (p.15; their footnotes are in a separate file). The 2008 report lists top foreign hospitals with their specialties as
Bumrungrad, Thailand: Orthopedics, Neurology, Plastic surgery, Dental, Cardiovascular, Cancer, Fertility/sex reassignment
CIMA, Costa Rica: Orthopedics, Neurology, Plastic surgery, Dental, Cardiovascular, Cancer
St. Luke's, Philippines: Orthopedics, Neurology, Plastic surgery, Dental, Cardiovascular, Cancer
Apollo, India: Orthopedics, Neurology, Plastic surgery, Cardiovascular, Cancer
American, UAE: Orthopedics, Weight loss, Cardiovascular, Cancer, Fertility/sex reassignment
National Cancer Center, Singapore: Cancer
Ivo Pitanguy Clinic, Brazil: Plastic Surgery - Awards, 2015 were based only on written applications by the hospitals and €150 fee from each contestant
- International Association for Medical Assistance to Travelers (designed for people who get sick abroad) has a directory (for a small donation) of English-speaking doctors in most countries who will see you for an initial consult of $100. These provide a chance for checking the local reputation of a surgeon you are considering, or treatment of follow-up complications. "majority has received post-graduate training in North America or Europe... IAMAT health care providers will refer you to a specialist in any field, including dentists... Our doctors and mental health practitioners will advocate on your behalf and help you with any issues that may arise during your experience with the health system of your destination country."
- Subsidiary of Blue Cross (surgery and dental), includes the Costa Rican, Indian, Thai, and Turkish hospitals listed above. See their cost data below.
- Joint Commission International accredits hospitals abroad, also at worldhospitalsearch.org/. Founded by Joint Commission in US, which is a separate organization.
- WhatClinic.com has a few reviews worldwide, for example 16 reviews of knee replacements, and 8 of hernia repair (none from any hospital listed above). Reviews can be found with a specific term, like knee replacement, but clinics describe themselves with broad terms like orthopedics, so search both ways. It probably needs to partner with local review sites to get more reviews. Reviews are mostly accepted from people who had previously contacted the clinic through the site. They do not mention a policy on removing reviews. Clinics can list themselves free, or advertise.
- Medigo.com lists many hospitals and clinics for many conditions in many countries. Among the hospitals recommended above, Medigo only includes Apollo in India. The lists are easy to search and often give prices. They do not rank clinics on quality, and do not describe their criteria for listing clinics. They do not visit all the clinics, and they say when they do. The few patient ratings only appear on each clinic's page, so comparing ratings is a slow process. Terms of use forbid "disparagement" (8.2), and they do not say whether they include all reviews. They charge 0-9% to arrange treatment, depending on country, and various other fees. You can search with their free lists and contact the clinics directly if you don't want Medigo's services, but you'll need to find other measures of quality. They cite news stories, which cover medical tourism, not Medigo. Terms of Use limit their liability, and section 9.6 makes you pay their costs for some lawsuits. They are based in Germany, and the founders are Polish. Suits against them must be in Berlin.
- Dental Departures (dental referrals and travel agency) visits nearly all their dentists, has questionnaire on sterilization, includes patient reviews, and has dropped 8 dentists for poor quality from its list of 2,500 dentists in 29 countries.
- Medical Tourism Association (industry association) See their cost data below.
- Patients beyond Borders, lists other articles and questions to ask your doctor
- Planet Hospital, lists other articles
- Pilgrimed See their cost data below
- Healthbase
- MedRepublic
- MedRetreat
- Companion Global Health Care phone number forwards to MMT Global Health Care, which says it is a different company.
- Organization for Safety, Asepsis, & Prevention suggests phone questions to ask foreign doctors; has members abroad
- Aerospace Medical Association, risks of air travel with some medical conditions
- Centers for Disease Control (advice) says some countries have poor quality drugs, more resistant bacteria, and paid blood donors, without saying which; links to other organizations
- American Medical Association, 2008 recommendations on foreign care. They say patients should get "physician ... outcome data" (p.6 line 48), which is only sometimes available in US
- International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery advice; has members abroad
- Buzzfeed, 2017, on hundreds of dentists in Mexico near Yuma, and using RV community for referrals
- US News+World Report, 2012
- AARP, and US News+World Report, 2014, by same author
- Economist, 2014
- Guardian, 2014, on Poland
- While abroad for treatment, complications or other illness one may need medical or evacuation insurance.
- While traveling on commercial airlines, the plane's medical kit is minimal (except on ANA-All Nippon Airways and Lufthansa), so people with medical issues need to bring what they might need. Also, the plane can call a doctor on the ground who handles plane emergencies every day, as well as whatever doctor may be on the flight. Flight attendants are certified in CPR and AED.
- Puerto Rico 2013, updates: 2014, 2015, 2016, covered by Medicare, exempt from readmission penalties
- Maryland, covered by Medicare, exempt from readmission penalties, working toward new limits by 2019
MTA Cost Comparisons 2015 have US and 13 foreign countries. (2011 had 10 foreign countries and an African average) 25% Average: Foreign as % of US 12% Heart Valve Replacement 15% Heart Bypass 12% Spinal Fusion 33% Hip Replacement 34% Knee Replacement 30% Angioplasty 46% Hip Resurfacing 50% Gastric Bypass 35% Cornea 64% Gastric Sleeve 41% Hysterectomy 66% Lap Band 49% IVF Treatment 39% Face Lift 59% Tummy Tuck 9% Rhinoplasty 63% Breast Implants 47% Liposuction 63% Lasik 61% Cataract surgery 51% Dental Implant | Blue Cross Cost comparisons for: DaVinci Prostatectomy Dental Crown Dental Implant Dental Veneer Heart Bypass Heart Valve Replacement Hip Replacement Hysterectomy Knee Replacement Root Canal Spinal Fusion | Pilgrimed Cost comparisons for: Angioplasty Breast Implants Dental Implant Heart Bypass Heart Valve Replacement Hip Replacement Hip Resurfacing Hysterectomy Knee Replacement Lap Band / Bariatric Rhinoplasty Spinal Fusion |
Since risk adjustment is ineffective, hospitals can improve their results by denying care to the patients with the worst conditions (“We can’t help you…”), giving the hospital a better “success” rate. Attention to outcome measures leads to denial of care to the sickest.
- “the most assiduous work on risk adjustment has produced tools of only moderate power. The prospects for solving this problem with improved risk adjustment are not promising.[4],[5]” http://medicaring.org/2014/12/16/protecting-hospitals/
- “You can’t get all the right variables on the page” said Berwick, former Medicare Administrator. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2673607
As a very professional and problematic example, Medicare’s adjustment of health condition (HCC) is poor. It explains only 2% to 12% of the total variation actually caused by patient mix (p.65 table 3-22, “r-squared” of version 21).
http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Health-Plans/MedicareAdvtgSpecRateStats/downloads/evaluation_risk_adj_model_2011.pdf
Medicare’s adjustment of patient mix for readmission penalties is also poor. For example, their equations explain 3% of the variation in readmissions among heart failures (p.30), 5% for heart attacks (p.30) and pneumonia (p.29). These percents date from 2008 and have not been updated.
http://www.globe1234.info/medicare/category/medicare-texts
Medicare now shows c-statistics between 0.61 and 0.66 for readmission penalties,
http://www.qualitynet.org/dcs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=QnetPublic%2FPage%2FQnetTier4&cid=1219069855841
The c-statistic has a scale of 0.5 to 1, where 0.5 means their equations do no better than chance, and 1 means their equations are perfect. So some equations are little better than chance, and they still rate hospitals with them. “Models are typically considered reasonable when the C-statistic is higher than 0.7 and strong when C exceeds 0.8”
http://mchp-appserv.cpe.umanitoba.ca/viewDefinition.php?definitionID=104234
so none of their equations is “reasonable,” and they still charge hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars of penalties with them each year, driving hospitals to reduce admissions among the sickest.
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) has its own risk adjustment.
- https://publicreporting.sts.org/chsd-risk-model
- https://www.sts.org/sites/default/files/documents/Shahian-2018-Risk-Model-Part-1-of-2.pdf
- https://www.sts.org/sites/default/files/documents/Shahian-%202018%20Risk%20Model-Part%202%20of%202.pdf
- https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0003497518303710-mmc1.docx has c-statistics
They give “c-statistics” ranging from 0.616 to 0.826, so some of their equations are not "reasonable," and are little better than chance, but they use them to compare hospitals.
A reader wanted to know when updates happen, so I will try to list them here, starting July 25, 2014.
2022 Jul 6 - Attorney General letter on FOIA
2022 Jun 19 - linked to CHQPR in doctor quality & cost alternatives. Companies push back against reporting privacy breaches
2022 May 30 - began section on climate warming from health care
2022 May 16 - added bacteriophages for antibiotic-resistant infections
2022 Mar 17 - added tips on searching federal court cases
2022 Mar 9 - added NY health price comparison site
2022 Feb 9 - expanded data on drug costs
2022 Feb 2 - link to checklist of tasks after death
2022 Jan 13 - added review sites for dentists
2022 Jan 10 - added brief info on recruitment of foreign nurses
2021 Dec 21 - added data problems on nursing home sites
2021 Oct 28 - added findings on bad care for Part C and for oldest with heart attacks.
2021 Oct 21 - added SHIP help sites for Medicare coverage
2021 Jun 26 - added organizations of caregivers
2021 Jun 22 - article on US hospital branches abroad.
2021 Mar 9 - added links on Medigap
2021 Feb 21 - added article on Canada's lack of care for disabilities, leading to suicides.
2021 Feb 8 - added glossary of cost terms and info on Medigap
2020 Oct 27 - added research on effective presentation of numbers to About section
2020 Sep 21 - expanded readability resources
2020 Aug 31 - added comparison of Medicare payments and private insurance
2020 Aug 21 - linked to slide show on hospital financial data
2020 May 6 - added links on patient advocates
2020 Apr 9 - added more ACC articles on deaths and readmission penalties
2020 Mar 30 - added maps of fevers
2020 Mar 26 - added ACC estimates of excess deaths from heart failure
2020 Feb 4 - updated information on errors in prescriptions
2019 Aug 29 - updated health literacy; rearranged ethics guidance, lawyers and feeding tubes
2019 Jun 3 - added drug companies' recriminations on doctors who report adverse events, and simplified pages on advance directives and CPR+DNR
2019 May 9 - added study of hospital costs under private insurance
2019 Apr 20 - updated 4-page pamphlet on DNR choices
2019 Feb 25 - added list of hospitals with luxury suites
2019 Feb 3 - removed forms for medical representative and advance directives, and gave links to state rules on forms
2019 Jan 13 - updated estimate of mental changes after CPR from better source
2019 Jan 5 - added 4-page pamphlet on DNR choices and 2018 research on deaths from readmission penalties
2018 Dec 17 - updated CPR and DNR page with clearer explanations
2018 Dec 6 - added description of CPR and more detail on its organ donation possibilities
2018 Dec 1 - added options for advance directives
2018 Nov 27 - noted that able-bodied people under-estimate quality of life of people with disabilities, and life in a coma.
2018 Oct 29 - added treatment links to drugs page. Updated advance directive form and CPR info.
2018 Oct 5 - added note about 2019 readmission penalties. Updated information on VA hospital quality.
2018 Oct 2 - moved Coma explanations to a new section. Updated AMA guidance on patient-doctor negotiations about end of life care
2018 Sep 12 - updated data and graph on CPR and DNR
2018 Sep 9 - added comparison of ways to let medics reach your emergency information instantly online.
2018 Sep 8 - added deadly results of measuring medical outcomes in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers
2018 Aug 13 - added non-Medicare cost data for drugs and office visits.
2018 Aug 8 - added new guidelines for coma prognosis and videos to page on medical representatives
2018 Aug 1 - updated penalties on nursing homes for sending patients to hospitals too often
2018 Jul 27 - added links on telehealth, nursing home data, and Medicare Advantage data on encounters with beneficiaries
2018 Jul 6 - added links on Medicare premiums and FDA regulation of software apps.
2018 Jun 20 - added to advance directives page: report on Gosport hospital overprescribing painkillers, causing deaths of 456-656 patients, and added to drugs page: complexities of prior authorization
2018 Jun 14 - updated data on specialists 2012-2016
2018 Jun 3 - updated medical travel
2018 Mar 5 - Added pills advice and international comparisons
2017 Nov 7 - Added life expectancy adjustments for health status
2017 Sept 21 - Updated maps
2017 July 14 - Added 2015 map and spreadsheet of appointment lengths for general doctors
2017 June 19 - Added 2015 list of specialist doctors
2017 May 25 - Added Conflict of Interest to doctor ratings page
2017 May 23 - Updated FOIA page and spreadsheet of all agency processing times
2017 May 10 - Updated ACO public information, waivers, odds of a bonus for cutting patient care.
2017 Apr 27 - Added Medical Letter to Drugs page and Eye issues to Specialists page
2017 Apr 15 - FOIA results, response times, fees, settlement negotiations
2017 Mar 10 - Added detail on problems with e-cancellation in Drugs page
2017 Feb 27 - Rearranged Specialists page, highlighting and expanding Step C - Other Information for Choosing Doctors
2017 Jan 30 - Wider text, more on costs and referrals
2016 Dec 22 - added header about use of cookies, and noted that federal retirees' price matching to Medicare excludes hospital outpatient charges
2016 Dec 8 - added sites on FOIAs
2016 Nov 23 - estimated 8,000 heart failure deaths per year, caused by readmission penalties
2016 Nov 3 - rearranged penalty calculations and hospital quality. Added NICHE levels of geriatric care
2016 Oct 21 - updated readmission penalties to FY2017, with bypass operations for the first time. Added detail on Healthgrades data about hospitals and doctors
2016 Sep 27 - noted BCBS of NC costs on Specialists page
2016 Sep 18 - new format to name medical representative and noting organ donation.
2016 Sep 7 - updated codes for medical procedures with 2014 costs and volume
2016 Aug 30 - gave links to search for hospitals with the most experience in each procedure
2016 Aug 26 - put specialists on a new page, and re-wrote it with instructions for using Medicare's interactive site to search for specialists.
2016 Aug 23 - corrected patient strategies to note how hard it is to drop Medicare Part A.
2016 Aug 22 - lists of independent doctors and nursing home organizations
2016 Jul 8 - 2012-2014 data on 683,000 doctors & others, to find those who give long appointments & treat you in multiple settings
2016 Jun 10 - Signs and letters written by Medicare, telling patients about ACOs
2016 Apr 2 - Doctor's incomes, hours, satisfaction, discipline
2016 Jan 6 - More info on Drugs
2015 Nov 30 - Renamed Advance Directive Form to emphasize Medical Representative, and updated CPR statistics with success outside hospitals.
2015 Nov 17 - Improved labels in financial data, and added Google sheet of doctors' office hours.
2015 Oct 22 - Improved labels in office hours data, and gave numbers of new patient appointments instead of the ratio between later and new appointments.
2015 Oct 16 - Updated Hospitals.xls+Penalty.xls with minor price changes issued Oct.5. Also corrected total US penalties to exclude Maryland, which is exempt from penalties. Removed blank columns, since sorting is sometimes blocked by blank columns. Reformatted advance directive pdf. Clarified definition of 1st visit with a patient.
2015 Oct 3-6 - Linked to better file to find doctors' phone numbers. Described California's ratings of hospitals. Stressed agent in advance directive. Expanded Excel instructions. Noted new data on types of patients seen by each doctor.
2015 Sep 30 - Added links on selecting medical representative; changed background photos
2015 Sep 2 - Better labels for Doctors, dropped diabetes education (30') to stay under 200 MB
2015 Aug 22 - Clarified doctor files & advance directives; added a Creative Commons license
2015 Aug 9 - Added data on hospitals cutting treatment.
2015 Aug 6 - Slightly better sort of Doctors, added longer patient education, better labels of countries
2015 Aug 5 - Updated readmission penalties to October 2016
2015 July 25-31 - Compiled ratings of doctors on one page
2015 July 1-9 - Added length+number of appointments for 636,000 generalist doctors. Updated data on 230,000 specialists. Better advance directives.
2015 Jun 12 - Simplified example of advance directives
2015 Apr 25 - Added percent readmitted for various causes
2015 Apr 7 - Added state totals for each penalty
2015 Mar 20-23 - Added penalties, address, latitude + longitude to Hospital financial statements. Fixed omission of last character of amounts. Expanded description of penalties.
2015 Mar 14 - Added name, address, phone & hospital chain to Hospital financial statements
2015 Mar 4 - Re-ordered columns, and added web links in spreadsheets of doctors
2015 Mar 3 - Added spreadsheets of Hospital financial statements, and highest-volume 25 doctors for each procedure
2015 Mar 2 - Added note on how high-volume doctors get their start
2015 Jan 15-Feb 22 - Article on Advance Directives
2015 Jan 23-26 - Reduced readmission penalty estimates, to omit capital and other costs which are not subject to penalties, and use Medicare's October updates.
2015 Jan 7-14 - Split off sections about unnecessary care, knees, legal searches & patient reviews
2014 Dec 31 - Published article on selecting doctors by experience & other measures
2014 Dec 30 - Updated ACO list with 89 new groups starting in 1/1/2015
2014 Dec 18 - Corrected in my files, errors which Medicare had in 650 doctors' state or zip code.
2014 Dec 1-12 - Added research on doctors' experience
2014 Nov 29 - Added maps of doctors' experience
2014 Nov 26 - Added more complete files on doctors' experience
2014 Sep 8 - Added input on 2015 Dietary Guidelines
2014 Sep 2-5 - Added comments on Medicare ACO rules, an option to create nutrition graphs in USDA file of nutrients, and more comparisons of protein sources, in site & USDA file.
2014 Aug 22 - Re-sorted USDA file of nutrients, added nutrition labels for protein alternatives
2014 Aug 18 - Added Calories in the nutrition labels proposed in the salt section, and identified almond milk with less sodium than average
2014 Aug 7 - Updated readmission rates and penalties with data from p.756 of Medicare's final rule, instead of p.1495. Both tables have the same title and have slightly different numbers. Medicare says p.756 applies to readmissions penalties.
2014 Aug 6 - Added the idea of clearer Explanations of Benefits, as a cost-saving alternative
2014 Aug 4 - Updated readmissions with data released by Medicare today
2014 July 27 - Listed doctors' experience on home page, with files on the Northeast and elsewhere
2014 July 25 - Adjusted readmission penalties at each hospital, for variations in local costs
91% of dialysis patients do not participate in Accountable Care Organizations, which have their own incentives to cut costs, so Medicare is trying to set up groups just for kidney patients. These are called End Stage Renal Disease seamless care organizations (ESCO). Dialysis patients are "1.3% of the Medicare population and accounted for an estimated 7.5% of Medicare spending, totaling over $20 billion in 2010."
ESCOs will receive 50%-75% of Medicare's savings on dialysis patients, compared to baseline costs. "Members must place their fiduciary duty to the ESCO before the interests of any ESCO participant" (Medicare's explanatory slides p.39)
They have 23 quality measures, one of which is the death rate. Medicare has not yet announced the weight to be given each measure, but judging by weighting for Accountable Care quality measures, no one measure will have much weight, including the mortality rate, so ESCOs can meet quality standards without minimizing deaths. Since a death stops all costs, the financial rewards for death are large.
Each "beneficiary’s first visit to a given dialysis facility during a particular period will prospectively match that beneficiary to the dialysis facility, and by extension the ESCO, for the upcoming performance year" (Request for Applications-RFA p.12). So a patient can avoid the incentives by changing to another dialysis facility, not part of the same ESCO. An email from Dr. Alefiyah Mesiwala, Medicare's leader for the program, says, "Once a beneficiary is seen by an ESCO facility, they are then matched for the life of the entire model unless the beneficiary dies, has a transplant, or becomes ineligible as stated in the RFA. Once a beneficiary is aligned to a facility, even if that beneficiary visits multiple facilities or providers in a given performance year, all costs associated with that beneficiary will be attributed to the ESCO facility the beneficiary was initially matched to per the matching rules outlined in the RFA" (5/5/2014).
The "first visit" rule gives an incentive for dialysis centers to be unable to find space for high risk patients (old or with multiple sicknesses), so they go to another ESCO at least for the first visit.
When patients find themselves in an ESCO, patients can avoid the cost-cutting incentives by finding a dialysis center which is not part of the same ESCO, and using doctors who are also not part of that ESCO. These other centers and doctors will not face the conflict of interest of being rewarded for cutting costs, so patients are more able to trust their recommendations and treatment decisions.
Dialysis companies and researchers doubt the ESCOs will be successful.
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