Hospital Outpatient Prices Vary Widely for Managed Medicaid Insurers

  • Dec 15, 2023

    The outpatient prices Medicaid managed care insurers pay to hospitals vary considerably based on geography and type of service, according to a cross-sectional study published on Nov. 28 in JAMA Network Open. The authors examined publicly available data and noted the results suggest the prices could affect government health expenditures and access to care for Medicaid members.  

    However, Jeffrey Marr, a Ph.D. candidate at Johns Hopkins University and the study’s lead author, acknowledges the analysis “raises more questions than it answers” in part because the researchers could not determine the reasons for the variation. Two health care insiders tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that the study reinforces there are still questions related to the usefulness of the hospital price transparency rule that went into effect in 2021 and the various definitions for prices. 

    Read more
    © 2024 MMIT
  • Tim Casey

    Tim has been a reporter and editor for newspapers, websites and magazines for more than 20 years, including 10 years covering health care business topics. He has a deep knowledge of the managed care industry and pharmacy benefit management. He also has experience covering medical conferences and clinical and legislative health care issues. In 2014, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing selected Tim as one of 15 journalists to participate in a national symposium on the Affordable Care Act. Tim has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University.

The Latest
Meet Our Reporters

Meet Our Reporters

×