NYTimes: Costs at Urban Hospitals May Get Extra Scrutiny in Health Care Overhaul

Anemona Hartocollis of The New York Times writes today that a provision in the House health care bill, included over the objections of hospitals from New York and other cities, would order a neutral group, the Institute of Medicine, to conduct a two-year study of regional variations in Medicare spending. The bill requires the institute to recommend changes that would reward “quality and value,” and those changes would take effect automatically unless Congress objected by May 31, 2012.

The recommendation that New York hospitals fear most is that Medicare should reduce payments to areas where costs grow fastest and increase payments to those who are best at controlling them. They argue that some of the most efficient hospitals are in affluent and rural areas that do not face the same challenges, including higher poverty and cost of living, as New York.

As more urban hospitals undergo the "knife" moreso than their rural counterparts, do you think this move is fair?

Costs at Urban Hospitals May Get Extra Scrutiny in Health Care Overhaul