Association Between Medicare Policy Reforms and Changes in Hospitalized Medicare Beneficiaries' Severity of Illness.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

The measured severity of illness of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries has increased. Whether this change is associated with payment reforms, concentrated among hospitalizations with principal diagnoses targeted by payment reform, and reflective of true increases in severity of illness is unknown.

Objectives

To assess whether the expansion of secondary diagnosis codes in January 2011 and the incentive payments for health information technology under the US Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act were associated with changes in measured severity of illness and whether those changes are reflective of true increases in underlying patient severity.

Design, setting, and participants

This cohort study of Medicare fee-for-service benefi

SUBMITTER: Sukul D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6503517 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature