Ask the Expert: Managed Care Payment Trends

Q: Do you know of any studies that may support managed care payer payment trends to hospitals for 2011, 2012, etc?  

A: No, the only place to find that information is if benefits management companies or actuarial companies publish their trends in a journal or magazine. However, even then, these companies usually only publish the overall medical and/or prescription trends without the provider pricing trends.

You may be able to purchase the trends from the companies. Every trend will be different, however, based on the respective company’s data sets.

Dan McAfee, senior managing director, payor contracting and reimbursement strategy, The Godbey Group, answered this question.

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