December 2015 - Health Affairs - The Network of Care

People Post: Staff And Board Changes In Health Philanthropy; Honors; Request For Proposals

Happy New Year to GrantWatch readers! Here is some light reading for the holiday weekend. Grantmakers In Health (GIH) has announced that six new members have been elected to its board. They are Ned Calonge, president and CEO of the Colorado Trust ; Nichole...

Published Tue, Dec 29 2015 3:54 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Physicians, States, Global Health, Disparities, Health Philanthropy, GrantWatch, Environmental Health, Oral Health, Equity and Disparities, Health Professionals, California, Commonwealth Fund, Rhode Island, Colorado, Colorado Health Symposium, Kaiser Family Foundation, medical schools

How Might Proposed Payer Mergers Impact State Insurance Markets?

With recent news of the proposed Aetna/Humana , Anthem/Cigna , and Centene/Health Net mergers, a number of stakeholders have raised questions about consolidation’s impact on the competitiveness of health care markets. For these proposed deals, we estimated...

Published Tue, Dec 01 2015 9:26 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: States, Medicare, Quality, Featured, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, Medicaid and CHIP, Health Professionals, insurers, mergers, concentrated markets

Taking Stock Of Choosing Wisely

Since its launch in 2012, the ABIM Foundation’s Choosing Wisely campaign has helped create conversations among clinicians and patients—both in the U.S. and abroad—about unnecessary care, particularly where significant risks of a test or treatment...

Published Thu, Dec 03 2015 9:23 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Quality, Featured, Payment Policy, Costs and Spending, Equity and Disparities, ACOs, Choosing Wisely, unnecessary tests, medical waste

The Impact Of New Hepatitis C Drugs On National Health Spending

Those who follow Altarum Institute’s monthly health sector briefs and trend reports are well aware that the five-year run of record low growth rates in national health spending (from 2009 through 2013) has come to an end, or at least been interrupted...

Published Mon, Dec 07 2015 8:13 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Quality, Featured, Costs and Spending, Drugs and Medical Technology, hepatitis C, Prescription Drugs, Sovaldi, Harvoni, spending growth

Health Care Price Transparency: A Meeting Of The Minds In Kentucky

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky held its second health care price transparency symposium on October 16. This convening occurred a year after the foundation’s first symposium , in which state and national speakers discussed the need for price transparency...

Published Tue, Dec 08 2015 11:00 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Health Reform, Consumers, Payment, Health Care Costs, Quality, Health Philanthropy, GrantWatch, Population Health, Costs and Spending, All-Payer Claims Database, Kentucky, claims data, Price Transparency

Preventing Older Adults From Falling: Evaluation Of A New York Foundation’s Initiative Shows Success

Chances are that you have fallen at least once or twice in your life. You’ve tripped over the dog or slipped on ice. If you’re lucky, you might end up with a bruised knee (and maybe a bit of a bruised ego), but you move on with your day. However, as you...

Published Thu, Dec 10 2015 4:05 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Consumers, Chronic Care, Health Care Costs, Medicare, Hospitals, Aging, Health Philanthropy, GrantWatch, Health Promotion and Disease PreventionGW, Costs and Spending, Medicaid and CHIP, New York State, injuries, fall prevention

Implementation Of The Biosimilars Provisions Of The ACA — Where Are We Now?

Despite the passage of a 2010 law addressing such medicines, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval this year of the first biosimilar has prompted a flurry of regulatory activity aimed at filling gaps left by the statute. For a helpful primer...

Published Mon, Dec 14 2015 8:38 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Quality, Featured, Payment Policy, Drugs and Medical Technology, FDA, generic drugs, drug safety, Biosimiliar, drug pricing

Macy Foundation Goes On The Road To Spotlight Innovations In Doctor Training

Since the July 2014 release of the Institute of Medicine’s report calling for a more publicly accountable graduate medical education (GME) system, the report has sparked an often contentious discourse among stakeholders about who wins and who loses. Because...

Published Tue, Dec 15 2015 9:48 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Physicians, Workforce, Innovation, Health Philanthropy, GrantWatch, Payment Policy, Health Professionals, Graduate medical education, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation

Health Affairs Web First: Access To Care In The US Rose 3.4 Percentage Points Since ACA Implementation

While millions of Americans have gained insurance coverage since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded access to health insurance coverage in January 2014, little is known about how access to and affordability of care are changing under the ACA. A new...

Published Wed, Dec 16 2015 1:49 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Elsewhere@ Health Affairs, Featured, Insurance and Coverage, Medicaid and CHIP, access to care, Web First, ACA coverage, Health Reform Monitoring Survey

IRS Releases Final Rule On Premium Tax Credits, Notice Addressing Employer Coverage

Implementing Health Reform. On December 16, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a final regulation containing a number of premium tax credit eligibility provisions. Several of these concern the question of when an employer-sponsored health...

Published Thu, Dec 17 2015 12:55 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, MAGI, employee wellness incentives, ACA premium tax credits, family glitch, COBRA, TRICARE, minimum value rule, AmeriCorps

Evaluating A New Era In Medicare Hospice And End-Of-Life Policy

The hospice benefit was added to the Medicare program in 1983 to provide comprehensive, interdisciplinary care for beneficiaries in the last six months of life. Currently, one in two beneficiaries use some hospice care prior to their death. New Year’s...

Published Tue, Dec 22 2015 10:15 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Physicians, Medicare, Quality, End-of-Life Care, Palliative Care, Featured, Payment Policy, Costs and Spending, CMMI, Health Professionals, Service Intensity Add-On payments, advanced care planning, seniors

IRS Again Delays Minimum Essential Coverage Reporting Requirement, And Other ACA Developments

Implementing Health Reform. The Affordable Care Act imposes certain reporting requirements on large employers and providers of minimum essential coverage . Insurers, self-insured employers, and government programs must provide 1095-B statements to individuals...

Published Tue, Dec 29 2015 7:31 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, IRS, employers, Affordable Care Act, minimum essential coverage, advance premium tax credits

Health Affairs Web First: National Health Spending Growth Accelerates In 2014

A new analysis from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimates that in 2014, health care spending in the United States grew at a rate of 5.3 percent to $3.0 trillion, or $9,523 per person. The previous...

Published Wed, Dec 02 2015 1:16 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Hospitals, Elsewhere@ Health Affairs, Featured, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, Medicaid and CHIP, Drugs and Medical Technology, ACA, Web First, national health spending

Senate Approves Reconciliation Bill Repealing Large Portions Of ACA

Implementing Health Reform. On December 3, 2015 the Senate voted 52 to 47 to repeal large parts of the Affordable Care Act. The House has voted over fifty times to repeal the ACA since the Republicans took control in 2011, but this is the first time the...

Published Fri, Dec 04 2015 12:13 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Featured, Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, Medicaid and CHIP, Cadillac tax, ACA repeal, Senate, budget reconciliation

Not Your Usual Suspects: Roles For State Agencies In PCMH Payment Reforms

The growth of multipayer patient centered medical home (PCMH) reform across the country, accelerated by the Affordable Care Act, offers the opportunity to widely transform the primary care delivery system. Recent Health Affairs research noted 17 multipayer...

Published Tue, Dec 08 2015 9:00 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Public Health, States, Hospitals, Featured, Payment Policy, Costs and Spending, Medicaid and CHIP, Payment Reform, vaccines, Maine, Patient-Centered Medical Home, Vermont, Montana

December 2015 - Health Affairs

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