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Pandemic Factors Driving Predictions for 2022 Medical Cost Trends
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the author of the annual PwC Behind the Numbers report, which looks ahead at medical cost trends in the United States.
This month, the PwC Health Research Institute (HRI) released Medical Cost Trend: Behind the Numbers 2022. Reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual report predicts a 6.5% medical cost trend in 2022, slightly lower than the 7% medical cost trend in 2021 and slightly higher than it was between 2016 and 2020.
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Trina Tsouderos, who leads HRI, and discuss some of the drivers behind those numbers, as patients who put off care begin to seek services, as workers carry a high burden of mental and emotional stress, and as health care systems invest as they plan ahead for the next crisis.
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ACOs’ Focus on Rooting Out Fraud Aligns With CMS Vision Under Oz
April 23rd 2025Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are increasingly playing the role of data sleuths as they identify and report trends of anomalous billing in hopes of salvaging their shared savings. This mission dovetails with that of CMS, which under the new administration plans to prioritize rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.
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New Research Challenges Assumptions About Hospital-Physician Integration, Medicare Patient Mix
April 22nd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Brady Post, PhD, lead author of a study published in the April 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, challenges the claim that hospital-employed physicians serve a more complex patient mix.
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Contributor: For Complex Cases, Continuity in Acute Care Is Necessary
April 23rd 2025For patients with complex needs and social challenges like unstable housing, the hospital has become their de facto medical home—yet each visit is a fragmented restart, without continuity, context, or a clear path forward.
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Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
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