Demand drives supply which drives cost

A recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the trends in employment by sector in the US.  I don't have the reference here, but if you look at the period from 2007 to present, the major sector that has shown growth was health care.  For example, look at this BLS article from 2011.  The current job report, as I recall, will likely mark well over 110 consecutive month of job growth for the health sector.In a related story over at Modern Healthcare, CMS provided detail of the pioneer accountable care organizations that realize the business proposition for the program doesn't work.  "Seven Medicare Pioneer accountable care organizations that didn't produce savings in the first year of the Obama administration's most ambitious test of the accountable care model have told the CMS they will leave the Pioneer program and enter the Medicare Shared Savings Program model, while another two participants have indicated they will leave Medicare accountable care entirely."Information Week explained this exodus:The revelation that nine of the 32 accountable care organizations in Medicare's Pioneer program might leave it -- four of them to join the regular Medicare shared savings program (MSSP) -- has raised some eyebrows in the healthcare industry. The reason is that the Pioneer ACOs, which are among the most advanced healthcare organizations, are expected to take downside risk -- meaning they can lose money -- sooner than the ACOs in the MSSP, ...
Source: Running a hospital - Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs