Biomaterial Database

Expenditure limits and cost containment. 1993

P B Ginsburg

Physician Payment Review Commission, Washington, DC 20037.

The Clinton administration's proposal for health care reform would tie limits on premiums and, indirectly, provider payment rates to a national health care budget. An expenditure limit (or global budget) is a mechanism to calibrate the parameters of underlying cost containment policies. This article analyzes provider rate setting and managed competition and discusses how they can be guided by expenditure limits. Particular attention is paid to health systems that include elements of both traditional fee-for-service insurance and organized systems of care. Success in containing costs also will require additional policies that can supplement rate setting and managed competition to achieve specific goals to slow spending growth.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007349	Insurance, Health, Reimbursement	Payment by a third-party payer in a sum equal to the amount expended by a health care provider or facility for health services rendered to an insured or program beneficiary. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988)	Health Insurance Reimbursement,Reimbursement, Health Insurance,Third-Party Payments,Third-Party Payers,Health Insurance Reimbursements,Insurance Reimbursement, Health,Insurance Reimbursements, Health,Payer, Third-Party,Payers, Third-Party,Payment, Third-Party,Payments, Third-Party,Reimbursements, Health Insurance,Third Party Payers,Third Party Payments,Third-Party Payer,Third-Party Payment
D008329	Managed Care Programs	Health insurance plans intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including: economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care; programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services; increased beneficiary cost sharing; controls on inpatient admissions and lengths of stay; the establishment of cost-sharing incentives for outpatient surgery; selective contracting with health care providers; and the intensive management of high-cost health care cases. The programs may be provided in a variety of settings, such as HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATIONS and PREFERRED PROVIDER ORGANIZATIONS.	Case Management, Insurance,Insurance Case Management,Managed Health Care Insurance Plans,Managed Care,Care, Managed,Managed Care Program,Management, Insurance Case,Program, Managed Care,Programs, Managed Care
D011907	Rate Setting and Review	A method of examining and setting levels of payments.	Rate Setting, Review,Review and Rate Setting,Rate Settings, Review,Review Rate Setting,Review Rate Settings,Setting, Review Rate,Settings, Review Rate
D002017	Budgets	Detailed financial plans for carrying out specific activities for a certain period of time. They include proposed income and expenditures.	Budgetary Control,Budget,Budgetary Controls,Control, Budgetary,Controls, Budgetary
D003363	Cost Control	The containment, regulation, or restraint of costs. Costs are said to be contained when the value of resources committed to an activity is not considered excessive. This determination is frequently subjective and dependent upon the specific geographic area of the activity being measured. (From Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed)	Cost Containment,Containment, Cost,Containments, Cost,Control, Cost,Controls, Cost,Cost Containments,Cost Controls
D005102	Health Expenditures	The amounts spent by individuals, groups, nations, or private or public organizations for total health care and/or its various components. These amounts may or may not be equivalent to the actual costs (HEALTH CARE COSTS) and may or may not be shared among the patient, insurers, and/or employers.	Expenditure,Expenditures, Health,Health Expenditure,Out Of Pocket Expenditure,Out-of-Pocket Cost,Out-of-Pocket Expense,Out-of-Pocket Payment,Expenditures,Expenditures, Direct,Expenditures, Indirect,Expenditures, Out-of-Pocket,Out-of Pocket Expenditures,Out-of-Pocket Costs,Out-of-Pocket Expenses,Out-of-Pocket Payments,Out-of-Pocket Spending,Cost, Out-of-Pocket,Costs, Out-of-Pocket,Direct Expenditure,Direct Expenditures,Expenditure, Direct,Expenditure, Health,Expenditure, Indirect,Expenditure, Out-of Pocket,Expenditure, Out-of-Pocket,Expenditures, Out of Pocket,Expenditures, Out-of Pocket,Expense, Out-of-Pocket,Expenses, Out-of-Pocket,Indirect Expenditure,Indirect Expenditures,Out of Pocket Cost,Out of Pocket Costs,Out of Pocket Expenditures,Out of Pocket Expense,Out of Pocket Expenses,Out of Pocket Payment,Out of Pocket Payments,Out of Pocket Spending,Out-of Pocket Expenditure,Out-of-Pocket Expenditure,Out-of-Pocket Expenditures,Payment, Out-of-Pocket,Payments, Out-of-Pocket,Spending, Out-of-Pocket
D005251	Fees, Medical	Amounts charged to the patient as payer for medical services.	Fee, Medical,Medical Fee,Medical Fees
D006291	Health Policy	Decisions, usually developed by government policymakers, for determining present and future objectives pertaining to the health care system.	Health Care Policies,Health Policies,Healthcare Policy,National Health Policy,Care Policies, Health,Health Care Policy,Health Policy, National,Healthcare Policies,National Health Policies,Policies, Health,Policies, Health Care,Policies, Healthcare,Policy, Health,Policy, Health Care,Policy, Healthcare
D014481	United States	A country in NORTH AMERICA between CANADA and MEXICO.
D018166	Health Care Reform	Innovation and improvement of the health care system by reappraisal, amendment of services, and removal of faults and abuses in providing and distributing health services to patients. It includes a re-alignment of health services and health insurance to maximum demographic elements (the unemployed, indigent, uninsured, elderly, inner cities, rural areas) with reference to coverage, hospitalization, pricing and cost containment, insurers' and employers' costs, pre-existing medical conditions, prescribed drugs, equipment, and services.	Healthcare Reform,Health Care Reforms,Healthcare Reforms,Reform, Health Care,Reform, Healthcare,Reforms, Health Care,Reforms, Healthcare