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Mental Health, Sleep Medicine, And Sports Medicine Spending Has Increased, According To New Medicare Data
By Lecia Bushak
According to a new report out of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare’s mental health spending is up, based on 2013 data.
Medicare spending on psychiatry has risen 9.3 percent to $853 million; other areas that experienced increases in spending were sports medicine (56 percent) and sleep medicine — while general practice, cardiology, and geriatric medicine spending actually decreased.
“This is extremely valuable information for policymakers and purchasers so we begin to understand the cost of health care to the American taxpayer,” Leah Binder, CEO of the Leapfrog Group, told USA Today. “We are only now beginning to see trend data. For most of our lifetimes we were forbidden from seeing this data, so finally we are moving in the right direction.”
The report was issued to help make the health care system “more transparent, affordable, and accountable,” CMS states.
