Discussion: Variations in Quality of Medical PracticeVariations, too much or too little in health...

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Discussion: Variations in Quality of Medical Practice

Variations, too much or too little in health care, are an indication of poor quality in medical practice and often raise questions about the quality and efficiency of the use and allocations of resources, and they have important implications for health care and health policy.

In this Discussion, you will conduct an evaluation of the variation of issues affecting Medicare reimbursements to determine warranted or unwarranted variations. You will provide an analysis of those variation issues that may affect reimbursements and recommend ways to overcome the issue(s).

To prepare:

Read/reviewthe Dartmouth Atlas Data document, containing key statistics per state, and the Learning Resources related to variations in quality in medical practices.

Dartmouth Atlas Data document (Excel spreadsheet)

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The Discussion:

In an attempt to figure out why there is a tremendous difference between Medicare reimbursements between states, data were pulled from the top and the bottom of the list that include the following information adjusted for price, age, sex, and race. The 90th percentile group is at or above $10,578, and the 10th percentile group is at or below $7,497.

By Day 3

Posta cohesive response to the following:

Using the Excel spreadsheet (Dartmouth Atlas) and other Resources for the week, post your analysis of the variation issues that may affect diverse Medicare reimbursements and why. Recommend strategies for overcoming the issues.

qfile_636800889739144965_123687_1.xlsx

Dr Khalid · Accepted Answer

Page | 2
Analysis of the Medicare Reimbursement Variation Issues
The diversity in Medicare payments is based on the frequency of office visits or procedures based on the medical necessities and population magnitude (University_of_California, 2016). The increases physicians’ office visits substantially elevate the number of patient referrals to the specialized clinical facilities. This substantially increases the overall health care cost in various regions of the United States. Furthermore, the inconsistently implemented fee-for-service reimbursement schedule leads to the incentives’ misalignment that drastically inflates the overall health care cost. Dartmouth Atlas Data (DAD) reveals the elevated health care reimbursement rate (i.e. above $10,578) in 90th percentile locations including Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Texas (Dartmouth_Atlas_Project, 2018). However, the health care reimbursement rate is reportedly below $7,497 in the 10th percentile locations including Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont, Oregon, and Montana. The DAD findings reveal the elevated population and mean income in Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Texas are the significant factors that potentially inflate the overall health care cost and physicians’ reimbursement rate. The population elevation substantially elevates the disease frequency in the human population. The elevated disease frequency increases the risk of potential clinical complications that require additional revenue for their treatment or mitigation. These clinical complications potentially contribute to the reported alterations in the reimbursement rates and Medicare payments across the 90th percentile locations (Idrees, et al., 2018). 
The DAD reveals 6%-8% elderly individuals in the 10th percentile region below the poverty level that is substantially less than the poverty level of the 10th percentile locations. Furthermore, the mean income of the 10th percentile locations is also more than the 90th percentile locations.  The Medicare reimbursement plans substantially vary in accordance with the federal poverty level, mean income, and living cost across various regions of the United States.

Discussion: Variations in Quality of Medical Practice Variations, too much or too little in health care, are an indication of poor quality in medical practice and often raise questions about the...

Discussion: Variations in Quality of Medical Practice

By Day 3

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