Policy and Legislation
With the remaining provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) going into effect in less than a year, employers are trying to prepare for how the law will impact health plan enrollment and cost.
Sounding a theme increasingly common at healthcare industry gatherings, the outgoing CEO of Kaiser Permanente called for fundamental changes to U.S. healthcare's business model during a speech at the 2013 AHIP Institute on Wednesday.
The latest installment of the swooping MGMA Physician Compensation and Production Survey: 2013 Report Based on 2012 Data dubs quality and patient satisfaction as measures expected to have a considerable impact on compensation structures in the coming years.
Last week, I received my weekly email update from the Maryland health insurance exchange. Maryland Health Connection completed its Final Detailed Design Review (FDDR) live system demo on Thursday, May 30. The FDDR is a federal stage-gate required of all state-based exchanges. Maryland Health Connection successfully demonstrated end-to-end enrollment of a split family scenario including user log in, eligibility determination, real-time data verification through the Federal Data Services Hub, enrollment into plans, payment and file generation to be sent to an insurance carrier.
Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access (SNHPA), the group that represents hospitals in the federal 340B discount drug program, recently asked pharmaceutical manufacturer Amgen to withdraw its new policy that all 340B purchases of the company's drug Neulasta be made exclusively through specialty distribution channels.
The ACA's Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) program is a temporary high-risk health insurance program for uninsured individuals who have been denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.
While more and more physician practices are focusing on patient-centered care, more support efforts are needed, according to recent report by MGMA-ACMPE.
A report issued June 6 by the Kaiser Family Foundation contends that the medical loss requirement (MLR) of the Affordable Care Act saved health insurance consumers $2.1 billion in 2012.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced Tuesday a competition to improve consumer understanding and use of data comparing hospital prices but the results could also be of use to hospitals.
Adding more mixed evidence to the Medicaid expansion debate, health researchers found that extending coverage to low-income, childless adults in Wisconsin corresponded with a decrease in preventable hospitalizations but also increases in outpatient and emergency department visits.