March 2012 - Health Affairs - The Network of Care

Implementing Health Reform: A Final Rule On Health Insurance Exchanges

On March 12, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services promulgated final regulations governing the establishment of the American Health Benefit Exchanges. The exchanges are at the heart of the Affordable Care Act strategy for making health insurance...

Published Tue, Mar 13 2012 11:02 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Policy, Insurance, States, Coverage, Medicaid

Health IT Meaningful Use Mission Creep

Mission creep is the expansion of a project or mission beyond its original goals, often after initial successes. Mission creep is usually considered undesirable due to the dangerous path of each success breeding more ambitious attempts, only stopping...

Published Fri, Mar 16 2012 7:54 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Policy, Politics, Payment, Health IT, Health Care Costs, Medicare, Patient Safety

Implementing Health Reform: A Final Rule On Medicaid Eligibility

On March 16, 2012, the Center on Medicare and Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services released its final rule on eligibility changes for Medicaid that will take effect under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on January 1, 2014. A...

Published Sun, Mar 18 2012 2:28 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, States, Medicaid

Prevention Funding: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Two years ago with enactment of the Affordable Care Act, our nation was poised to follow a new prescription for health. The world’s biggest spender on health care and a nation whose health system — a $2.7 trillion enterprise — was largely oriented to...

Published Thu, Mar 01 2012 9:23 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Nonmedical Determinants, Public Health, Prevention, Policy, Politics, Chronic Care, Spending, Obesity

Examining Public Reporting On Quality And Cost

Public reporting of providers’ performance has been a key development over the past decade in efforts to improve the quality of health care and lower its cost. It’s been widely assumed that by making this data public, underperforming providers will be...

Published Thu, Mar 08 2012 7:35 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Health Care Costs, Quality, Hospitals

The Ryan Plan: The Cliffs Notes Version Of Republican Health Reform

For the second year in a row, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has advanced a comprehensive budget plan that would restructure Medicare and Medicaid, repeal the big-spending portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and ultimately resolve the fiscal crisis facing...

Published Wed, Mar 21 2012 1:08 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Policy, Politics, States, Spending, Medicare, Medicaid

The Supreme Court ACA Arguments: Timothy Jost On The Anti-Injunction Act

The first day of Supreme Court oral arguments on the Affordable Care Act focused on the Anti-Injunction Act (AIA). This statute, enacted in 1867, provides that “no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall...

Published Mon, Mar 26 2012 3:38 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Medicaid, Health Law

Wendy Mariner On The Supreme Court’s Individual Mandate Oral Argument: The Search For A Limiting Principle

The U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments on Tuesday on the constitutionality of the minimum coverage provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Not since the New Deal has the Supreme Court considered such a fundamental challenge...

Published Tue, Mar 27 2012 5:37 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Insurance, Health Law

William Sage On The Supreme Court ACA Arguments Day Two: Where No Law Has Gone Before?

The much-anticipated argument over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s insurance centerpiece, the minimum coverage requirement or “individual mandate,” took place Tuesday morning. It was an entertaining but messy affair, with several individuals...

Published Wed, Mar 28 2012 5:06 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Insurance, Health Care Costs, Quality, Health Law

Timothy Jost: The Arguments Over Severability Of The Minimum Coverage Requirement

The central issue in the Supreme Court Affordable Care Act (ACA) litigation is the constitutionality of the minimum coverage requirement (individual mandate). If the Court decides that the requirement is unconstitutional, it must next decide how much...

Published Thu, Mar 29 2012 8:07 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Insurance, Health Law

Wendy Mariner On Severability: Laser Surgery, Friends & Family, Or Blow It Up?

If the Supreme Court finds the individual mandate unconstitutional, will it strike down (sever) that provision alone, additional provisions regulating insurance, or the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA)? That was the question before the U.S. Supreme Court...

Published Fri, Mar 30 2012 8:43 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Politics, Insurance, States, Health Law

Adding Seats: The RUC’s Sleight Of Hand

On February 1, the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC), Medicare’s primary advisor on physician payment, announced the addition of two seats: a permanent one for geriatrics and a rotating one for primary...

Published Wed, Mar 14 2012 10:55 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Payment, Physicians, Primary Care, Health Care Costs, Spending, Medicare, Aging

A Saint Patrick’s Day Health Wonk Review

Tinker Ready offers a great Saint Patrick’s Day Health Wonk Review at — where else? — Boston Health News. Tinker provides a nice selection of health policy blogging, including a Health Affairs Blog post by Danny McCormick and colleagues...

Published Fri, Mar 16 2012 10:47 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Blog, Health IT

Why Aren’t State Exchanges Embracing Prudent Purchasing Strategies?

In the design of health insurance exchanges, one key issue is whether exchanges will offer improved value to people buying insurance in the individual and small group markets. A lot depends on whether the exchanges act as prudent purchasers – making design...

Published Mon, Mar 19 2012 12:20 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Policy, Insurance, States, Employer-Sponsored Insurance, Competition

Electronic Access For Physicians To Prior Tests Did Not Reduce Costs

Despite the widely held assumption that physicians having computer access to patients’ test results will reduce testing, doctors who have such access to tests in the ambulatory care setting are more likely to order imaging and lab tests. That’s...

Published Mon, Mar 05 2012 1:41 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Physicians, Health IT, Health Care Costs, Technology

March 2012 - Health Affairs

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