The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) recently released its annual Data Book for 2014, Health Care Spending and the Medicare Program.
The MedPAC Data Book contains data on national health care and Medicare spending and Medicare beneficiary demographics and liability. It also examines quality of care in the Medicare program. A detailed look at provider settings is given and data is presented on Medicare spending, beneficiaries’ access to care in each setting and Medicare profit margins.
Key findings from the 2014 Data Book include:
- Medicare spending among fee for service (FFS) beneficiaries continues to shift to the outpatient setting. Spending growth for inpatient hospital services declined from an average annual 4.0 percent from 2003 to 2006 to 1.8 percent from 2006 to 2009 to 0.3 percent from 2009 to 2012. MedPAC partly attributes this decline to the movement of services from the inpatient setting to the outpatient setting. However, it states other factors may be influencing this as well, such as the decline in the growth of FFS enrollment and current economic conditions. MedPAC notes that from 2011 to 2012 inpatient spending decreased about 1 percent while outpatient spending increased about 9 percent.
- Enrollment in the Medicare program predicted to increase quickly. MedPAC projects rapid growth in Medicare program enrollment over the next 20 years, from about 50 million in 2012 to about 81 million in 2030. It expects the rate of increase to accelerate through 2030, as members of the Baby Boom generation become eligible for Medicare.
- Dual-eligible beneficiaries are costly. Dual-eligible beneficiaries (those who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid) account for a disproportionate share of Medicare FFS expenditures. Although they only represent 19 percent of the Medicare FFS population, they accounted for 34 percent of aggregate Medicare FFS spending in 2010.
- Hospital employment shows a small increase. Overall hospital employment increased 1.2 percent from May 2008 to May 2010. Physician assistant employment increased more than any other occupation at hospitals, with an 11.2 increase over the time period. The demand for registered nurses increased 4.2 percent; however licensed practical or vocational nurses saw a significant decrease in employment.
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