RevCycle Intelligence June 23, 2020
Value-based reimbursement encourages clinicians to care for the whole person, which is essential to addressing health disparities demonstrated by claims data from the COVID-19 crisis, CMS says.
Health disparities proven by Medicare claims data during the COVID-19 crisis underscore the need to transition to value-based reimbursement, according to CMS.
Yesterday, the federal agency announced COVID-19 outcomes based on Medicare claims data from January 1 through May 16, 2020. The data revealed that Medicare spent $1.9 billion in fee-for-service payments on 81,227 COVID-19 hospitalizations during the period, with average hospital reimbursement hovering at $23,000.
Of the nearly $2 billion in hospitalizations, black beneficiaries accounted for nearly four times more than their white peers, the preliminary data revealed. Black adults also had...