News in brief - Nov. 28, 2011

Medical price growth outpaced inflation in October

The amount of money paid for medical care went up faster than inflation in the rest of economy in October, according to the consumer price index released Nov. 16 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The consumer price index declined 0.1% in October, but medical care expenses went up 0.5%. The price paid for professional services, a category that includes physicians, went up 0.3% in October. The cost of hospital care grew 0.6%.

However, health care inflation, at an annual rate, is below the overall inflation rate. Overall prices grew 3.5% during the last 12 months, according to BLS, but the growth in health care was only 3.1%. Professional services prices went up 2.2%, and hospital care cost grew by 4.9% (a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm">www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm).

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6 additional states launch Medicaid EMR incentive programs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that six more states have launched Medicaid incentive programs for electronic medical record systems, bringing the total to 39. Twenty-three already have started making payments.

As of Nov. 7, eligible physicians in Arkansas, Delaware, Montana, New Jersey, New York and North Dakota can register for the incentive program, which will pay nearly $64,000 over six years to eligible physicians who show meaningful use of their EMR systems.

Physicians can participate in either the Medicare incentive program, which will pay up to $44,000 to qualifying physicians over five years, or the Medicaid incentive program, but not both.

However, physicians can switch programs. The Medicare program is being administered at the federal level, and Medicaid programs are administered voluntarily by states. CMS expects that every state will eventually launch a program, with a few expected to launch in December and early 2012.

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