Newsroom
Read about our latest research, initiatives, announcements, and other news.
Financial Forecasting for MediCaring Communities
July 24, 2018 | Perspective
Imagine a meeting in your community — perhaps later this fall or next year — where you assemble a group of like-minded peers: health care providers, organizations offering supportive services, advocates, local leaders, policymakers and other interested stakeholders. You are calling them together because they all have an interest in improving the health and well-being of older adults in the area. Now, further imagine that at this meeting, you are aiming to craft a strategy that will establish, using current programs, a more efficient system of service delivery that reduces spending — in a way that keeps any resulting savings in the community.
Private Insurance Spending Now Growing Faster than Public Insurance Spending
July 18, 2018 | Press Release
New research from Altarum finds that spending and price growth among the privately-insured population accelerated in 2017 and early 2018 relative to Medicare and Medicaid, despite very low growth in private insurance enrollment.
Revised Spending Data and Gross Domestic Product Spurt Brings Health Share Down to 17.9%
June 15, 2018 | Press Release
While earlier data suggested a recent acceleration, with revised data, we estimate spending growth of 4.7% for the first four months of 2018, barely above the 4.6% rate seen for all of 2017.
Expanding PACE Opportunities in Our Community
May 17, 2018 | Perspective
Huron Valley PACE has partnered with Altarum to find innovative ways to expand availability and affordability of PACE services to more elders and people with disabilities.
Health Care Jobs Engine Propels Share of Total Jobs to All-Time High
May 11, 2018 | Press Release
In April 2018, the health care sector added 24,400 new jobs, consistent with the 12-month average of 25,500 new jobs per month, but enough to propel the health share of total U.S. jobs to 10.76%, a new all-time high. Hospitals added 8,000 jobs in April, and ambulatory settings such as physician offices and home health added 16,900 new jobs.
Health Care Prices and Spending Accelerating
April 13, 2018 | Press Release
In March 2018, the Health Care Price Index rose by 2.2% compared to the previous year, fractionally higher than in February, and the highest rate since January 2012. Driving overall price acceleration is high hospital price growth of 3.7%, barely down from 3.8% in February—a more than 8-year high.
Health Care Spending Growth and Its Share of Economy Exhibit Remarkable Stability
March 26, 2018 | Press Release
Altarum's latest Health Sector Economic Indicators provide a second look at spending for the entire 2017 calendar year and suggest that national health spending grew by 4.6% from its 2016 level.
Through a Glass Darkly: The Community-Based Care Transitions Program Evaluation
February 22, 2018 | Perspective
CMS just released an extensive evaluation of the Community-based Care Transitions Program. Unfortunately, the primary metrics used to measure performance—re-hospitalization/discharge rates—are not always good for patients. We should also include how communities and their social support organizations can improve access to adequate safe housing, nutritious food, reliable personal care, and other key services.