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Find Out What's Going On in Local Health Care Markets Across the Country
HSC Media Briefing Scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 24, at the National Press Club
Media Advisory
Aug. 17, 2005
Many developments in local health care markets appear to be setting the stage for additional health care cost increases and access-to-care problems, according to initial findings from the Center for Studying Health System Change’s (HSC) 2005 site visits to 12 nationally representative communities. Hospitals and physicians are competing more broadly and intensely for profitable specialty services, making costly investments to expand capacity and offer the latest medical technologies, especially in more affluent areas with well-insured populations. Employers and health plans have launched few initiatives to control rising costs beyond increasing patient cost sharing. As rapidly rising costs continue to push private health insurance out of reach for more people, state and local governments are struggling to meet the needs of low-income people and an increasing number of uninsured people.
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At the media briefing, HSC will release a new Issue Brief, Initial Findings from HSC’s 2005 Site Visits: Stage Set for Growing Health Care Cost and Access Problems, based on almost 1,000 interviews with representatives of health plans, hospitals, physician organizations, major employers, community health centers, consumer advocates and policy makers in the 12 communities-Boston; Cleveland; Greenville, S.C.; Indianapolis; Lansing, Mich.; Little Rock, Ark.; Miami; northern New Jersey; Orange County, Calif.; Phoenix; Seattle; and Syracuse, N.Y.
To register for the briefing or obtain the call-in number
for the briefing, contact Alwyn Cassil at (202) 264-3484 or acassil@hschange.org.
The Center for Studying Health System Change is a nonpartisan policy research organization committed to providing objective and timely insights on the nation’s changing health system to help inform policy makers and contribute to better health care policy. HSC, based in Washington, D.C., is funded principally by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is affiliated with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
