August 2013 - Health Affairs - The Network of Care

Patient Engagement Is The Key

Everywhere outside of health care, the consumer is in the driver’s seat. From Angie’s List to Yelp to Uber, consumers have never had more tools, and more ability, to get what they want and need. But “health care is different.” Although 72 percent of Internet...

Published Thu, Aug 08 2013 11:32 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Prevention, Policy, Insurance, Chronic Care, Health Care Costs, Employer-Sponsored Insurance

Premium Rate Variation In Exchanges Is An Eye Opener

Like a burlesque strip tease for health policy wonks, the slow motion unveiling of premiums for state health insurance exchanges has generated a lot of attention, unease, and, yes, excitement. The 2014 premiums, the first for Obamacare’s centerpiece feature...

Published Wed, Aug 07 2013 12:03 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Policy, Insurance, States, Competition, Cost

Health Industry Price Inflation At Historical Low

One hesitates to make too much of a single report, but the Altarum Institute’s July Report, “ Health Care Price Growth at 20+ Year Low ,” certainly commands one’s attention. According to Altarum’s analysis, the health sector pricing trend ran at a 1.0...

Published Thu, Aug 01 2013 11:09 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Insurance, Payment, Health Care Costs, Spending, Medicare, Hospitals, Medicaid

Implementing Health Reform: Final IRS Individual Mandate Regulations

On August 27, 2013, the 2014 Affordable Care Act health care reforms moved an important step closer to reality with the issuance of final Internal Revenue Service regulations on the ACA’s shared responsibility for maintaining minimum essential coverage...

Published Wed, Aug 28 2013 4:14 AM by Health Affairs Blog

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

Narrative Matters: A Safety Net Tale Of Ticking Clocks And Tricky Diagnoses

In a time-crunched clinic, physician Maria Maldonado and her resident battle the clock to uncover a potentially fatal diagnosis. Maldonado tells this story in her August 2013 Health Affairs Narrative Matters essay . The essay is freely available in full...

Published Tue, Aug 27 2013 12:11 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Policy, Physicians, Primary Care, Workforce, Disparities, Personal Experience

Employer-Sponsored Family Health Premiums Rise A Modest 4 Percent In 2013

Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $16,351 this year, up 4 percent from last year, with workers on average paying $4,565 toward the cost of their coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation(KFF)/Health Research...

Published Tue, Aug 20 2013 8:01 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Prevention, Employer-Sponsored Insurance, Coverage

An ACA Navigator Massive Open Online Course: Using The Emerging U.S. Health Care System

Many observers claim that we do not have a true “healthcare system” in the United States. Instead we have fragmentation across multiple dimensions resulting in unsustainable cost increases, compromised quality, and growing inequity. Streams of public...

Published Fri, Aug 30 2013 8:41 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Policy, Insurance, Public Opinion, States

Implementing Health Reform: Details On The Program Integrity And Appeals Rule

On August 28, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services released its program integrity and appeals rule . My post of August 29, 2013, offers an introduction to that rule. This post will analyze it in greater detail. Selecting geographic rating...

Published Fri, Aug 30 2013 9:31 AM by Health Affairs Blog

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

Implementing Health Reform: Final Rule On Program Integrity: Exchange, SHOP, And Eligibility Appeals

Late on August 28, 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services posted its Program Integrity and Exchange, SHOP, and Eligibility Appeals final rule , as well as a fact sheet on the rule. This is the...

Published Thu, Aug 29 2013 5:58 AM by Health Affairs Blog

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

New Health Affairs Issue: Health IT, Payment And Practice Reforms

Health Affairs’ August issue , released today, covers a range of topics, including changes in health care delivery and financing sparked by the rise in health information technology (HIT) adoption. In the United States, progress in health IT adoption...

Published Mon, Aug 05 2013 1:08 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Policy, Insurance, Malpractice Liability Reform, Payment, Physicians, Health IT, Pharma, Hospitals, Innovation

Preventive Care For All Medicaid Enrollees: A Response To Sara Wilensky And Elizabeth Gray

The recent article in the July edition of Health Affairs titled “ Existing Medicaid Beneficiaries Left Off the Affordable Care Act’s Prevention Bandwagon ," by Sara Wilensky and Elizabeth Gray, overlooked several important steps that are underway...

Published Fri, Aug 02 2013 8:44 AM by Health Affairs Blog

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

Why Congress Should Pass The Accuracy In Medicare Physician Payment Act

Editor's note: For more on the debate over the role of the Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC), see " In Setting Doctors’ Medicare Fees, CMS Almost Always Accepts The Relative Value Update Panel’s Advice On Work Values ," by Miriam...

Published Fri, Aug 09 2013 10:51 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Policy, Politics, Payment, Physicians, Medicare

Physician Payment: Forget Carrots And Sticks, It’s Motivation

Motivation is the fuel that keeps any professional going, the fuel for our internal generator. Where we go, of course, depends on our morals and ethics, but that's a different issue. Our motivation is to achieve certain goals, and overwhelmingly,...

Published Wed, Aug 07 2013 5:06 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Policy, Payment, Physicians, Workforce

Implementing Health Reform: Navigator Grants

On August 15, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services announced the award of approximately 120 grants to 105 organizations worth $67 million to fund navigator programs. Navigators will educate the public about and provide fair and impartial...

Published Fri, Aug 16 2013 5:21 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Policy, Politics, States

Implementing Health Reform: A Proposed Rule On Congressional Exchange Participation

The Affordable Care Act has been plagued by misinformation and misunderstanding since long before its adoption. One of the ACA’s provisions that has been most misunderstood is its requirement that members of Congress and their personnel staff purchase...

Published Wed, Aug 07 2013 9:22 AM by Health Affairs Blog

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

August 2013 - Health Affairs

Syndication

Recent Posts

Tags

Archives