Cost Shifting
Winners and Losers
Friday, November 2, 2007
8:30 - 10:00 AM (coffee & networking at 8 AM)
Davenport University - LETTINGA CAMPUS – Meeting Room
6191 Kraft Ave SE - Grand Rapids MI 49512
(Call
616-248-3820 for a map to be faxed or emailed)
When it comes to health care, do different people pay different amounts for the same service? Who pays what and why? Cost shifting (charging one payer more in order to compensate for lower payment from another payer) has been with us for a long time. There has been a lot of finger pointing and blame when it comes to this topic… but is cost shifting a normal phenomenon in any competitive marketplace? Are large payers really cost shifters or prudent buyers? Is it fair for hospitals and other health care providers to have to play “Robin Hood,” taking from the higher paying sources to cover for the lower paying sources? Are charges for services higher than actual costs in order to cover under-payment by some? Why do those with no insurance have to pay the highest amount? If government health programs underpay and force a cost shift to non-government payers, is this a hidden tax? What is the difference between cost and charge for health care services? Who are the winners and who are the losers?
The First Friday Forum visited the topic of cost shifting in 1990 and again in 1995. Has anything changed since then?
Come and join this discussion at the November First Friday Forum.
Moderator:
Fred P. Keller,
Chairman and CEO,
Cascade Engineering
Panelists:
Jeffrey L. Connolly,
Vice President,
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and President of West Michigan/Upper
Peninsula Operations
Joseph Fifer,
Vice
President of Finance, Spectrum Health
Paul
Reinhart,
Senior Deputy
Director, Medical Services Administration, Michigan Department of Community
Health
RSVP
by noon November
1, 2007
Email:
alliance@afh.org