Economic Data Analysis- Impact of Patient Protection & the ACA 2010
Analysis of Trends in Utilization and Cost for Arizona
An analysis of healthcare utilization data can help identify whether the trends in utilization and cost are positive or negative. It can also identify whether healthcare access problems and disparities exist within the healthcare system. The analysis of the trends in utilization and costs in Arizona is based on the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care 2018 Data Update compiled and edited by Bronner et al. in 2021.
The Medicare reimbursement rates for 2018 were among the lowest in the U.S, with regions of Apache, Cochise, Greenlee, and Graham ranging between $7967 and $9600, while other regions had reimbursement rates below $10,350 except for some regions in Maricopa and Pinal counties with a Medicare reimbursement rate of $11,800. These rates show lower Medicare expenditures, which may be an indicator of low utilization rates in the majority of the regions in Arizona.
The rate of hospice use for chronically ill decedents dying in 2018 was the highest throughout all regions of Arizona. All regions had utilization rates of above 63.2% for chronically ill Medicare patients who died in 2018, except for the Mohave and Apache regions, which had rates between 59.1 percent and 63.2 percent and below 50.25 percent, respectively.
The rate of hospital utilization for end-of-life care for patients with chronic illness in Arizona was among the lowest in the U.S. The regions of Santa Cruz, Pima, Cochise, Greenlee, Pinal, Graham, and some parts of Mohave and Coconino had utilization rates below 6.9. The rest of Arizona had utilization rates between 7.6 and 9.2.
Arizona State has a medium to high rate of physician utilization by chronically ill Medicare patients seeing ten or more different physicians during the last six months. In a majority of the regions in Arizona, multiple-physician utilization was between 46.7 percent and 56.5 percent, while some parts of Maricopa had between 56.5 percent and 68.3 percent, which was among the highest in the country. This shows an increase in the utilization of different physicians by chronically ill patients. The utilization and cost data presented for Arizona indicate a positive increase in the various utilization trends and costs based on the changes between 2011 and 2018.
Use of Utilization and Costs Information for Arizona to Build a Stronger Brand for Health Care
The findings indicate a variance in Medicare reimbursements across Arizona in 2018, with some parts having the lowest in the region and the U.S. There is also an indication of preference for certain Medicare programs, lack of a single point of care across the state, and lower utilization of end-of-life services. The variance in reimbursement rates, hospital utilizations for certain services, and utilization of different physicians may be due to healthcare accessibility in these regions due to factors such as availability of healthcare services or income.
The use of this utilization and cost information can help Arizona build a stronger brand for healthcare by supporting decisions on resource allocation in regions with lower utilization rates. These trends indicate changes within the healthcare system which may help in designing an agile healthcare health care system and future-proof healthcare system in Arizona. Health data facilitates rational decision-making in allocating resources, which helps improve healthcare utilization while reducing care costs by maximizing the usage of resources (Tian et al., 2019). The utilization rates and costs can also be used to assess different programs based on patient preferences to design customer- and patient-centered programs that deliver the best quality for the patients.
References
Bronner, K., Eliassen, S., King, A., Leggett, C., Punjasthitkul, S., & Skinner, J. (2021). The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care: 2018 Data Update. In Dartmouth Atlas Project. https://data.dartmouthatlas.org/downloads/reports/2018_data_report_081821.pdf
Tian, S., Yang, W., Grange, J. M. le, Wang, P., Huang, W., & Ye, Z. (2019). Smart healthcare: making medical care more intelligent. Global Health Journal, 3(3), 62–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.GLOHJ.2019.07.001
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Question 
The decade since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act went into effect in 2010 has seen fundamental shifts in the cost and practices in health care and insurance. Studying the data from this period of transformation in the United States can help us to understand the movement of healthcare costs in the years to come.
Economic Data Analysis- Impact of Patient Protection & the ACA 2010
Review the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care 2018 Data Update.
Write a 525- to 700-word analysis that includes the following:
Identify the results for your area of the United States for ARIZONA.
Analyze the results for ARIZONA and write a 525- to 700-word summary of why you think the trends in utilization and cost are either positive or negative.
Examine and explain whether you think the utilization and cost information for your organization or geography can be used to build a stronger brand for health care.
Cite any references to support your assignment.
Format your citations according to APA guidelines.
Submit your assignment.
** THIS HAS TO BE FOR ARIZONA SPECIFICALLY **