Blanchfield Bonnie B, Gazelle G Scott, Khaliif Mursal, Arocha Izabel S, Hacker Karen
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2011 May;22(2):523-31. doi: 10.1353/hpu.2011.0051.
The availability of language services for patients with limited English proficiency has become a standard of care in the United States. Finding the resources to pay for language programs is challenging for providers, payers, and policymakers. There is no federal payment policy and states are developing policies using different methodologies for determining costs and reimbursement rates. This paper establishes a conceptual framework that identifies program costs, can be used across health care entities, and can be understood by administrators, researchers, and policymakers to guide research and analysis and establish a common ground for informed strategic discussion of payment and reimbursement policy. Using case study methods, a framework was established to identify costs and included determining the perspective of the cost analysis as well as distinguishing between the financial accounting costs (direct, indirect, and overhead costs) and the economic opportunity and subsequent utilization costs.
为英语水平有限的患者提供语言服务已成为美国医疗护理的一项标准。对于医疗服务提供者、支付方和政策制定者而言，寻找资金来支付语言项目费用颇具挑战性。目前没有联邦支付政策，各州正在制定政策，采用不同方法来确定成本和报销率。本文建立了一个概念框架，该框架可识别项目成本，能在各医疗保健实体中通用，并且管理员、研究人员和政策制定者能够理解，以指导研究与分析，并为关于支付和报销政策的明智战略讨论奠定共同基础。通过案例研究方法，建立了一个用于识别成本的框架，包括确定成本分析的视角，以及区分财务会计成本（直接成本、间接成本和间接费用）与经济机会成本及后续使用成本。
