Kaiser Daily Health reported that nearly 1,500 Hospitals Penalized Under Medicare Program Rating Quality.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/November/14/value-based-purchasing-medicare.aspx

Kaiser Daily Health reported that nearly 1,500 Hospitals Penalized Under Medicare Program Rating Quality. Working in the healthcare industry I had heard some talks about hospital cuts, Medicare paying less, and other Obama Care issues. According to Kaiser more hospitals are receiving penalties than bonuses in the second year of Medicare’s quality incentive program, and the average penalty is steeper than it was last year, government records show.   Hmmmmmmm for some reason this report doesn’t surprise me.  I’m sure by now we’ve all have noticed that life necessities have went up in price. Things like gas, food, and insurance all have increased along with the cost of living.  I would expect the healthcare pricing to go up too. I think this is coming across as a shock to many Americans.  Houston we have a problem and it is with our healthcare system.  Medicare and Medicaid are the most common insurance in the U.S. and they interact with each other. Although one is state maintained it still dealt with cuts also.  Normally providers & facilities get paid a portion of every dollar that is filed.  For example Medicare pays 80% of each $1.  So hospitals and other facilities are not getting dollar for dollar on every claim filed.  There was a recent announcement at the local hospital here saying that the employees were not getting bonuses this year and they would not get raises.  Of course this was a shocker to most of its employees, but it seems as if everyone is struggling now this day in time and are doing more with less. The bonuses and penalties are one piece of the health care law’s efforts to create financial incentives for doctors and hospitals to provide better care. They come at a tumultuous time as the technical problems of the healthcare.gov insurance portal and premium prices are stoking questions about the law’s viability. The incentives are among the law’s few cost-control provisions that have kicked in, but it is too early to tell how effective they will be in making hospitals operate more efficiently.