Politicians can't see it.
"Pricey imaging pushes up health costs; Technology, changes in test sites drive rise" by Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff | March 11, 2010
In just two years, spending on MRIs, mammograms, and other imaging tests climbed by at least $214 million in Massachusetts, helping to fuel a dramatic rise in the cost of outpatient hospital care.
Related: AmeriKa's Cancer-Causing Hospitals
$ort of a $elf-fulfilling $et of circum$tances, 'eh?
Related: The Massachusetts Model: Municipal Health Mess
Yeah, I'll pay for the visit. Why not?
Consultants hired by the state found that the cost of imaging for privately insured residents increased 20 percent between 2006 and 2008, to $1.2 billion, as doctors ordered more scans and X-rays and hospitals demanded higher prices.
The largest single increase was for digital mammography, a new way to screen women for breast cancer. Hospitals have invested heavily in these expensive machines, and some insurers pay significantly more for digital mammograms than for traditional ones, even though the newer test has not been shown to be better at detecting cancer in most women.
Hey, you don't mind wasting money to prop up some well-connected special interest, do you, America?
A shift in where imaging is done, from independent freestanding clinics to generally higher-cost hospitals, also contributed to the spending increase, according to consultants from Brandeis University and Mathematica Policy Research Inc. of New Jersey. Governor Deval Patrick’s administration hired the researchers to investigate rising health care costs.
How much did that cost for something we already know?
But hospital executives said the state’s consultants overstated the role higher provider fees are playing in pushing up costs. And, they said, the increase in the number of scans has slowed significantly since 2008, as more insurers began requiring preauthorization for certain scans.
Yeah, I'm going to take the word of the looting executives at the health insurance companies, sure.
During hearings beginning March 16, David Morales, commissioner of health care finance and policy, and other specialists will question insurers and providers about a broad range of findings, including the increased spending on imaging and outpatient care and the dramatic variation in what providers are paid for the same service.
“Rising health care costs are definitely hurting the state’s economy and threaten our future economic growth,’’ Morales said. “It’s a national problem that requires immediate intervention.’’
They don't care. Tell it to Partners, not me.
For years, Massachusetts has spent more per person on medical care than the national average, though the rise in spending has generally been similar to that seen across the country.
Yeah, $mell$ like a $tinking racket to me.
But the consultants said the state’s recent growth in costs — more than 7 percent annually for the privately insured between 2006 and 2008, the most recent years for which data were available — appears to outpace the nation as a whole.
WHERE has ALL THAT MONEY GONE!?
Imaging costs are growing across the United States, although the consultants did not provide comparable US data....
So what?
Newspapers do it all the time!
