2010 and 2011 - Census Bureau

Appendix 3-B.
AbstrActs oF proJects stArted in 2010 And 2011:
Agency For HeAltHcAre reseArcH And QuAlity (AHrQ)
dAtA or nAtionAl center For HeAltH stAtistics (ncHs)
dAtA
Projects in this portion of the appendix use data provided by the Agency for Health Care Research and
Quality (AHRQ) or data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Under authority of
the Economy Act, the Center for Economic Studies hosts projects in Research Data Centers using data
provided by AHRQ or NCHS. AHRQ or NCHS is solely responsible for selecting projects and for conducting
disclosure avoidance review.
How HAs tHe prospective pAyMent systeM inFluenced MedicAre HoMe
HeAltH services? (AHrQ)
Hyun Jee Kim—University of Michigan
Over the last 15 years, Medicare
spending for home health services
has fluctuated significantly
in response to the changes in
the reimbursement system.
From the early 1990s until 1997,
the spending amount surged
under the fee-for-service payment
system, but it plummeted
when the interim payment system
was implemented temporarily
between 1997 and 2000 prior
to the full implementation of
the prospective payment system
(MedPAC, 2010). In 2000, the
Federal Government introduced
a prospective payment system
for Medicare home health care
to control the rapidly increasing
spending that had been occurring
under the fee-for-service
payment system. Surprisingly,
however, under the prospective
payment scheme, the total
Medicare home health care
spending continued to rise
dramatically and soon exceeded
the spending level under the
fee-for-service payment system.
Three factors have contributed
to the significant increase in
aggregate Medicare spending:
(1) the number of Medicare
home health service users, (2)
the number of episodes per
user, and (3) the payments per
episode. The third factor is of
particular importance because
the intent of the prospective
payment system was to curb the
payments per episode, which,
to the contrary, rose dramatically
under this system. Given
this situation of unexpected
consequences, this project aims
to explain the reasons for the
increase in each of these three
factors. The findings from this
project should have important
implications for cost control
affecting all health services reimbursed
by Medicare’s prospective
payment system.
unHeAltHy bAlAnce: tHe conseQuences oF work And FAMily deMAnds And
resources on eMployees’ HeAltH And HeAltH cAre consuMption (AHrQ)
Jean Abraham—University of Minnesota
Theresa Glomb Miner—University of Minnesota
This project examines the
consequences of work and family
demands and resources on
employees’ health and health
care consumption for the
employer-sponsored insurance
covered population using the
nationally representative Medical
Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)
for 1997–2007. The project
focuses on health status (overall
health status), stress-related
conditions (e.g., migraine,
gastro-intestinal, insomnia,
depression/anxiety, back
problems, and fatigue), annual
condition-specific utilization and
expenditures, and absenteeism.
U.S. Census Bureau Research at the Center for Economic Studies and the Research Data Centers: 2010–2011 57