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Health care fraud and abuse paper introduction
Fraud and abuse in the healthcare system
Fraud and abuse in the healthcare system
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Introduction The Bundled payment is defined as the reimbursement of health care providers on the basis of expected costs for clinically defined episodes of care. It has been considered as a middle ground between fee for service reimbursement and capitation system. Bundled payment has been proposed in health care reforms in the United States as a strategy for reducing health care costs, especially during the Obama administration (Mechanic & Altman 2009). While federal and state health care laws make bundled payments difficult to structure and implement, both the Medicare program and commercial payers have embraced bundled payments as a means for reducing costs, and many providers view bundled payments as an effective market strategy and a gateway to population management and more complex value-based payment arrangements (Moeller & Evans 2010). If one tries to design and implement a bundled payment system with commercial payers, he or she would immediately find that there exist complex legal issues of Fraud and Abuse to consider. This is mainly because the applicable laws were not designed to such types of systems. Although it may require a significant amount of time and effort to set up a compliant bundled payment system, I believe that it is possible to create such systems, and eventually, to overcome legal challenges for Fraud and Abuse. This paper hypothesizes that in designing commercial bundled payment system, increased utilization of applicable exceptions of related laws can reduce the potential legal risk of Fraud and Abuse. Fraud and Abuse consideration Confusion over the legal and regulatory requirements surrounding the creation of a bundled payment and shared savings arrangement is one of the primary roadblocks to wides... ... middle of paper ... ...ovisions as possible. Conclusions All things considered, it is clear that commercial bundled payment arrangements are not immune to laws related to Fraud and Abuse issues. Civil Money Penalty, Stark Law, and Anti-Kickback Statutes are identified as the most important federal laws to consider. While all of them impose a critical penalty to health providers if violated, each law has several exceptions that are applicable and favorable in commercial bundled payment context. Therefore, like I hypothesized in the beginning, active utilization of such exceptions will minimize legal and compliance risk so that health providers can avoid the issue of Fraud and Abuse. I highly recommend everyone who designs a commercial bundled payment program to keep in mind the laws and regulations discussed above as they present challenges in creating and implementing a compliant program.
Lischko A. (2011). Physician payment reform: A review and update of the models. Massachusetts medical society.
In doing this project the literature drawn from is largely non-scholarly for the reason that I am prevailing upon the reader to think outside the box about birth. Most of the “scholarly” research that is available was written by doctors or nurses/nurse midwives who were trained in the medical model of birth. Since part of my premise is that the high rate of Cesarean sections is caused in part by viewing birth as a medical and therefore pathological event, and in part for its emergence as a capitalistic industry, it was then necessary to find literature written by people who have expertise in birthing though not from the traditional obstetrical/medical school approach.
Pay-for-performance (P4P) is the compensation representation that compensates healthcare contributors for accomplishing pre-authorized objectives for the delivery of quality health care assistance by economic incentives. P4P is increasingly put into practice in the healthcare structure to support quality enhancements in healthcare systems. Thus, pay-for-performance can be seen as a means of attaching financial incentives to the main objectives of clinical care. However, reimbursement is a managed care payment by a third party to a beneficiary, hospital or other health care providers for services rendered to an insured or beneficiary. This paper discusses how reimbursement can be affected by the pay-for-performance approach and how system cost reductions impact the quality and efficiency of healthcare. In addition, it also addresses how pay-for-performance affects different healthcare providers and their customers. Finally, there will also be a discussion on the effects pay-for-performance will have on the future of healthcare.
Australia, commercially would be at an advantage if contract law was codified. The common law system which contracts calls home, can only take on so many avenues and limits itself when stretched to cover new areas. There needs to be a national set of laws governing contracts on the commercial front and in general areas to overcome discrepancies across borders. However there still remains inconsistency with consumers, minors and business trade through contracts made online. The digital economy is not only one of the fastest growing areas but is forever changing and is definitely a prospect that needs to be covered. Effective legal safeguards against undue exploitation and advantage-taking in such online dealings would see Australian contract law remain in the global arena. The Australian public need greater stability and certainty from contract law, and codification is a step towards fulfilling that void by allowing citizens to be well equipped and educated on their rights and decisions.
Most individual would think that the cause of diabetes, heart disease, or other chronic disease is because of their own unhealthy lifestyle decisions. For instance, most people would think because of smoking, stress, and not enough exercise can have a higher chance of attending those disease. However, Barker have a different point of view. As D.J.P Barker state in his article titled, Fetal and Infant Origins of Adult Disease Hypothesis that adaptations that fetus make when is under-nourished rather than adaptations made in adult life and those made during early development tends to have permanent effect on body's structure and function (Barker, 2001). He hypothesize that low birth weight is a factor contributing to development of coronary heart disease in adulthood but he neglected there are sociological factors during adult life can also trigger the development of coronary heart disease as well. Even though the Fetal Origins Hypothesis used an biological explanation to the development of coronary heart disease but it fails to recognize the sociological factors to coronary heart disease. One's position on the socioeconomic gradient has a contribution to the risk of coronary heart disease.
The current health care reimbursement system in the United State is not cost effective, and politicians, along with insurance companies, are searching for a new reimbursement model. A new health care arrangement, value based health care, seems to be gaining momentum with help from the biggest piece of health care legislation within the last decade; the Affordable Care Act is pushing the health care system to adopt this arrangement. However, the community of health care providers is attempting to slow the momentum of the value based health care, because they wish to maintain their autonomy under the current fee-for-service reimbursement system (FFS).
Medicare uses the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule to pay physicians and the Outpatient Prospective Payment System to pay hospitals and other outpatient facilities. Recently, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) made changes to physician and outpatient payments. The five levels clinic visit codes or five outpatient codes were replaced with a single code. The Chronic Care Management Fee will go into effect in January 2014 and will be the new form of physician compensation. “These changes are essential if we're going to create a healthcare system that delivers better care at lower cost," Blum (2013). Bundle Payment is a way for paying for high volume, high cost hospital procedures. Global payment enables providers to reduce unnecessary care and bring down spending under ...
In conclusion, managed care integrates the functions of financing, insurance, delivery, and payment within an organization. It also exercises formal control over utilization. Managed care is viewed as accepting the lowest competitive bid for services rendered. Today, HMOs and PPOs are the most common and widely used models for managed care. Although managed care is here to stay, it requires revision in some areas. Challenges that are to be faced include double agentry, fidelity, confidentiality, honesty, and vulnerability. With the help and guidance of health information professionals, managed care will continue to escalade and become better for all.
In the United States, everyone pays for healthcare including insurers, employers, the government, and individuals. Public insurers became increasingly concerned by the rising cost of healthcare and something had to be done to resolve the issue. This paper discuss the various payment system implemented by Medicare post World War II to help assist with maintaining the cost of healthcare in the nation. These systems were: fee-for-service (FFS), usual customary and reasonable (UCR), diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), lastly health maintenance organizations (HOMs).
Every eight seconds a baby is born in the United Sates (U.S.), and within one hour four babies die (1). The infant mortality rate (IMR) measures the rate at which babies die before their first birthday and is calculated per 1,000 live births. According to government figures 7.2 babies out of every 1,000 born in 1996 died (2, p 6). Although this figure declines steadily each year and is 406% lower than the 1950 figure (3) the United States IMR is still higher than twenty four other nations (1). More importantly, the IMR for black U.S. citizens is over twice the rate of white citizens (6.3 and 14.6 respectively) (4, p 9). The National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality even calls some regions "disaster areas" (5, p 18). What are the leading causes of infant death, and what areas within the United States are most affected? What preventative measures can ensure a child its first birthday? These questions are addressed herein. In addition, certain National Standards for Geography are met.
Death among premature babies is a growing epidemic which extensive research could prevent. Reported by the march of dimes “about 19,000 babies died in their first month, in the United States” (“Newborn Loss”). There are countless amounts of babies dying each year due to the lack of research. Funding for this needed research on premature babies would prevent the amount of countless deaths among infants in the world. If these lives were saved by new research this would impact more countless lives in a positive way instead of letting death negatively affect new infants and relatives. Newly funded research could also lead to more known causes for these deaths. Half of al...
There are several factors that contribute to the complexity of the revenue cycle. Frequent changes in contracts with payers, legislative mandates, and managed care are just a few examples of reasons why revenue cycle in the healthcare industry is so complex. Furthermore, the problems that arise in the steps of the revenue cycle further complicate the whole process. For example, going through the steps of the revenue cycle efficiently is extremely difficult when it is managed by poorly trained personnel. Furthermore, if a healthcare provider does not have the proper information system to track patient records and billing, receiving reimbursement can become difficult. In addition, one of the main factors that delay payments is denial from the insurance companies. The reason for Denial includes incorrect coding, the certain sequence of care and medical necessity or even delay in submitting claims. Lastly, inefficient patient correspondence can not only hinder the process of revenue cycle but also result in many patient complaints (Wolper, 2004).
Focusing on the development of a fetus, there is a lot to acknowledge. The reproduction system is detailed and pregnancy can be compromised easily. As a female who may eventually want to reproduce, the topic of pregnancy is generally interesting. There is a vast amount of information based on pregnancy and fetal development, however I would like to focus on birth defects. Birth defects can arise from several factors such as genetics, teratogens, and prenatal infections.
The use of credit and debit cards today are taking a tour in the sense that electronic cash is becoming more admissible as the world makes a switch towar...
The environment can influence a lot during prenatal development. Broderick & Blewitt (2010) state “genes can do nothing without environmental input—and that environmental effects are shaped by genetic constraints” (p. 34). Teratogens and disease can cause birth defects during prenatal development. Pregnant mothers should avoid things like drugs, radiation, and stay away from people or places that could be infested with viruses. These can result in a defect in th...