05-08-2013, 07:40 PM
Lemon-
I assume (as I attempted to note above) that the Medicare reimbursement rates and costs are calculated kind of the same way that defense contracts are calculated. EACH vendor negotiates independently, and provides separate financial information and cost models. Regardless of proximity or level of bling.
We may think of hospitals as a vanilla service provider, but the Medicare system probably does not.
If I'm right (and I think I am), then tearing that sort of system down will involve a lot of complexity and rewriting of the laws and rules that make Medicare work.
Americans tend to think of the services we receive as some sort of monolithic faceless organization that provides a common structure everywhere. It's not the case.
I assume (as I attempted to note above) that the Medicare reimbursement rates and costs are calculated kind of the same way that defense contracts are calculated. EACH vendor negotiates independently, and provides separate financial information and cost models. Regardless of proximity or level of bling.
We may think of hospitals as a vanilla service provider, but the Medicare system probably does not.
If I'm right (and I think I am), then tearing that sort of system down will involve a lot of complexity and rewriting of the laws and rules that make Medicare work.
Americans tend to think of the services we receive as some sort of monolithic faceless organization that provides a common structure everywhere. It's not the case.