The Congressional Budget Office has released more details on the Medicare savings it believes would result if physicians were banned from owning hospitals. Over the past year, the CBO has revised its savings estimate three times in response to changes in both legislation and the emergence of new research on the topic. In the current report, the CBO addressed provisions that are included in a mental-health parity bill already approved by the House. The terms spelled out in the bill limiting such ownership could save Medicare $2.4 billion over 10 years, it projects, primarily because utilization rates of certain procedures would go down.
Of course, not everyone thinks the CBO is on target. Those who favor physician ownership of hospitals argue that the CBO has been using outdated and/or badly-designed studies to make its cost estimates.
To learn more about the dispute:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)