Tag: Medicare data

This probably says it all: In this year's State of the Industry Report, for our data on Medicare utilization for 2017, we decided to change the name of the column “2017 Growth” to “2017 Change.” Why? Because for several years now, the allowed charges for the majority of codes have been decreasing year over year, not increasing. Take CPAP devices. There is an increasing, not decreasing, number of people who are being diagnosed and treated for obstructive sleep apnea, right,...

Some eagle eyes on twitter (I'm looking at you Woody O'Neal) noticed that the August data for our Medicare Market Marker looked like it climbed Mount Everest. Screen Shot 2018-02-15 at 12.05.51 PM.png For those uninitiated, the marker tracks the number of allowed Medicare beneficiaries for five of the most popular DME products: oxygen concentrator, semi-electric hospital bed, CPAP, standard wheelchair and power wheelchair. For oxygen concentrator, for example, the trajectory of the number...

This one's for you, dear providers who aren't on twitter. AAHomecare included an item in its Wednesday in Washington bulletin this week on updated data for HME's share of total Medicare spending. Turns out it's down to 1.11% in 2016 from 1.22% in 2015. Screen Shot 2017-12-14 at 9.06.46 AM.png The association pointed out that even way back in 2006, HME's share of total Medicare spending was a paltry 1.6%. The general theme here: HME spending is what they call in Washington, D.C., “budget...