July 2016 - Health Affairs - The Network of Care

When Common Sense And Public Health Prevail: Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt

On June 27, 2016 the United States Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Whole Women’s Health et al. v. Hellerstedt , one of its culminating decisions for the 2015-2016 term. By a 5-3 majority, the Court ruled unconstitutional two specific provisions...

Published Fri, Jul 01 2016 7:55 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Public Health, Quality, Featured, Insurance and Coverage, Medicaid and CHIP, Equity and Disparities, Supreme Court, Women's Health, Texas, Abortion, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, Planned Parenthood v. Casey

New Health Policy Brief: Off-Label Drug Promotion

A new policy brief from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) looks at a renewed debate over whether and how the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should regulate the pharmaceutical industry’s communication to physicians about...

Published Wed, Jul 06 2016 9:00 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Elsewhere@ Health Affairs, Costs and Spending, FDA, Health Policy Brief, off-label drugs

Digging Deeply To Address Health Inequities At The Local Level

Data are a funny thing. On the surface, data appear to tell you one thing. But if you dig more deeply, you will often find another, more complex truth. This happens frequently with health data. For example, Northern Virginia is one of the nation’s most...

Published Thu, Jul 07 2016 12:01 PM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Nonmedical Determinants, Public Health, Disparities, Health Philanthropy, GrantWatch, Population Health, Equity and Disparities, health equity, Community Health, Census data, evidence-based decisions, life expectancy

IRS Taxpayer Watchdog On Agency’s Implementation Of ACA: ‘Commendable,’ But Work Remains

Implementing Health Reform. The National Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) has recently released volume 1 of its Objectives Report to Congress for fiscal year 2017 . The TAS reports that, overall, “The IRS has done a commendable job of implementing the...

Published Mon, Jul 11 2016 1:31 PM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Costs and Spending, APTC, IRS, premium tax credits, National Taxpayer Advocate Service

Dynamic Debate: Health Affairs Forum Begins Value-Based Payment Discussion

“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.” You can bet that Mark Twain wasn’t thinking about reforming health care payment systems when he spoke these words more than a century ago, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t relevant to the issue...

Published Wed, Jul 13 2016 8:00 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Quality, Hospitals, Featured, Payment Policy, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, Health Affairs Event, quality measurements, value-based payment, Hospital Readmission Reductions Program, Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program

Insurers Can Reduce Drug Prices, If Policymakers Let Them

Whilst decrying rapid increases in drug spending and prices, elected officials have actually made it increasingly difficult for insurers to do anything about it. As payers, insurers are the only parties in the health care system who have both the means...

Published Thu, Jul 14 2016 11:00 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Featured, Costs and Spending, Drugs and Medical Technology, Gilead, Prescription Drugs, Big Pharma, Eric Schneiderman, reimbursement policy

Nondiscrimination And Chronic Conditions — The Final Section 1557 Regulation

Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA), those with serious or chronic health conditions were often denied health insurance coverage or paid high prices for substandard plans with coverage exclusions . Many went uninsured and untreated. For them, the ACA...

Published Wed, Jul 20 2016 8:00 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Public Health, Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, Equity and Disparities, Americans With Disabilities Act, ACA, HIV/AIDS, chronic conditions, Section 1557 waiver, LGBT issues, HHS OCR

HHS Must Improve Language Access To Make Meaningful Access A Reality

Across the country, as health care navigators continue their critical work to help enroll people in health coverage, the experience of multilingual assisters illustrates how one’s voice can be a lifeline for those facing critical barriers to accessing...

Published Fri, Jul 22 2016 8:00 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Public Health, Quality, Featured, Insurance and Coverage, Equity and Disparities, Navigators, Health Professionals, open enrollment, section 1557, Arkansas, Section 1557 waiver, HHS OCR, limited english proficiency

What’s In A Word? The Evolution Of Effectiveness In Health Care

The health care world is full of colloquial terms like value or affordability that mean different things to different stakeholders. Often how you define them and what you think of them depends on your place within the overall health ecosystem. It’s a...

Published Tue, Jul 26 2016 11:30 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Public Health, Quality, Hospitals, Population Health, Featured, Insurance and Coverage, Organization and Delivery, Costs and Spending, Health Professionals, ACOs, value based care, Choosing Wisely, Alternative Payment Models

On The Foundation Freeway: Entering And Exiting Priority Areas With Caution

All funders, no matter their size, have big dreams and limited resources. I have yet to meet grantmakers—even the largest ones—that think they have sufficient money to tackle the myriad challenges that exist. This is certainly true for the New York State...

Published Wed, Jul 27 2016 2:26 PM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Health Reform, Consumers, Insurance, Payment, Primary Care, Coverage, Hospitals, Medicaid, Health Philanthropy, GrantWatch, Health Promotion and Disease PreventionGW, Insurance and Coverage, Medicaid and CHIP, Diabetes, health insurance, New York State, Healthy Communities

Appeals Panels Affirm Injunction Against Fixed Indemnity Regulation, Turn Back Challenge To ‘Administrative Fix’

On July 1, the D.C. Circuit decided two appeals challenging aspects of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, accepting one challenge and rejecting the other. In Central United Life v. Burwell , a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of...

Published Sun, Jul 03 2016 12:48 PM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, ACA litigation, administrative fix, West Virginia, fixed indemnity insurance, excepted benefits, standing

Health Affairs’ July Issue: ACA Coverage, Health Spending, And More

The July issue of Health Affairs , a variety issue, covers a broad range of topics: the Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage provisions; improvements in emergency department care; trends in health spending by different income groups; efforts by accountable...

Published Wed, Jul 06 2016 1:25 PM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Elsewhere@ Health Affairs, Featured, tobacco, Health Affairs journal, ACA Marketplaces, medical marijuana

Value Based Reimbursement: The Rock Thrown Into The Health Care Pond

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series based on the 5th Forum: Learning from each other – Scaling ideas up to the next level . The forum was held in Berlin, Germany on June 9 and 10, 2016 and organized by the Center for Healthcare Management . Value...

Published Fri, Jul 08 2016 7:30 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Quality, Featured, Payment Policy, Insurance and Coverage, Organization and Delivery, Costs and Spending, Medicaid and CHIP, fee-for-service, value-based reimbursement, MACRA, value-based payment, Center for Healthcare Management 5th Forum, value-based insurance design

CMS Provides New Clarity For Family Planning Under Medicaid

Family planning services and supplies have been a part of the Medicaid program since it was first established half a century ago. And over the past several decades, Medicaid has become the dominant public funding source for family planning in the United...

Published Tue, Jul 12 2016 8:00 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Public Health, States, Quality, Featured, Costs and Spending, Medicaid and CHIP, Equity and Disparities, Women's Health, CMS, contraceptive coverage, family planning, long-acting reversible contraceptives

Health Expenditure Projections: When Does ‘New’ Become ‘Normal’?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its latest forecast of medical spending for the next decade. The headline number is that medical care as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to increase from its current...

Published Wed, Jul 13 2016 1:30 PM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Featured, Payment Policy, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, Medicaid and CHIP, ACA, ACOs, spending projections, MACRA, Alternative Payment Models

July 2016 - Health Affairs

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