The Area Wage Index of the Medicare Inpatient Hospital Prospective Payment System: Perspectives, Policies, and Choices View Policy Paper This policy paper discusses the positions of various rural health advocates on the wage index and recording the actions taken by Congress and the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to improve the wage index.Finally, it outlines …
Continue reading “The Area Wage Index of the Medicare Inpatient Hospital Prospective Payment System”
View Policy Paper This Policy Paper combines the work from current projects of the Maine Rural Health Research Center (MRHRC) and the Rural Health Panel of the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) to provide a statement of specific rural considerations and objectives for any proposal that would add a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare …
View policy brief This policy brief explains how the area wage index is calculated and used, and identifies the major unresolved issues related to its calculation and use. This report was written by Anthony Wellever (Delta Rural Health Consulting and Research) in collaboration with RUPRI Health Panel Members: Andrew Coburn, Charles Fluharty, J. Patrick Hart, …
View Report This Policy Paper provides a critique of two proposals to redesign the Medicare program: the “Medicare Preservation and Improvement Act of 1999” (S. 1895, introduced by Senator Breaux and others) and “The President’s Plan to Modernize and Strengthen Medicare for the 21st Century.” Rural implications of the proposals are discussed, specifically how they …
Continue reading “A Rural Assessment of Leading Proposals to Redesign the Medicare Program”
View Report This policy brief describes the experience to date with the Medicare+Choice program, focusing on changes in enrollment and plan formationthrough Fall 1999. We include a particular focus on changes occurring inrural counties. This updates previous reports by the RUPRI Health Panelon the progress of the Medicare+Choice program. This report was written by Health …
Continue reading “A Report on Enrollment: Rural Medicare Beneficiaries in Medicare+Choice Plans”
Rural Policy Research Institute
The University of Iowa
College of Public Health
319-384-3857 | info@rupri.org