December 2016 - Health Affairs - The Network of Care

National Health Spending: A Return To The ‘Old Normal?’

The year 2015 may be the year that we said goodbye to what some have called the “new normal” of health care spending. It’s becoming ever more clear that the unexpected and remarkably consistent slowdown in health care spending that began in the early...

Published Wed, Dec 14 2016 7:00 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Costs and Spending, CMS, national health spending

A New Health Affairs Blog Featured Topic: End of Life And Serious Illness

Today, Health Affairs Blog begins a new series on “ End of Life and Serious Illness .” The series focuses on the challenges facing patients both young and old in the advanced stages of illness as well as those challenges confronting their caregivers,...

Published Mon, Dec 19 2016 6:00 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: End-of-Life Care, End of Life & Serious Illness

Trump Plan To Increase Health Savings Accounts Should Ensure That They Do Not Only Benefit The Wealthy And Healthy

One of the reforms proposed as part of the Trump health platform is to “allow individuals to use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).” This increased emphasis on HSAs is a clarion call for more understanding about how to make HSAs work so that they are equitable...

Published Thu, Dec 08 2016 7:30 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Quality, Featured, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, health savings accounts, high-deductible plans

A Funder Collaborative To Integrate Oral Health Into Primary Care Sets The Bar

My experience with collaboration among foundations to achieve a particular goal has varied widely in my dozen years at the REACH Healthcare Foundation . While some collaborations have just resulted in stronger personal relationships with funder colleagues...

Published Thu, Dec 01 2016 10:29 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Public Health, GrantWatch, Featured, Organization and Delivery, Health Professionals

US Inpatient Emergency Department Cases May Lead To Surprise Medical Bills

A new study , released by Health Affairs as a Web First, looks at surprise medical bills—an unexpected bill from an out-of-network provider or a bill from an out-of-network provider not chosen by a patient. Authors Christopher Garmon and Benjamin...

Published Wed, Dec 14 2016 1:05 PM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Elsewhere@ Health Affairs, Web First

Lessons From The Field: How Local Innovators Are Reshaping How Doctors Are Trained

The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation spent the past year traveling the country to discover what different regions were doing to better align physician residency training programs with the many changes occurring in health care delivery. The model of graduate...

Published Thu, Dec 15 2016 9:02 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: GrantWatch, Featured, Organization and Delivery, Health Professionals

ACA Final Rule Omits Opt-Out Payment Provisions; CMS Extends Coverage Deadline

The individual responsibility requirement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires individuals who do not qualify for an exemption to have minimum essential coverage or pay a tax. To help people with incomes between 100 and 400 percent of the federal...

Published Fri, Dec 16 2016 7:43 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, Benchmark plans, advance premium tax credits, pediatric dental plans

The Final 2018 Notice Of Benefit And Payment Parameters (Part 2)

My first post on the 2018 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters focused on changes to the general insurance market reforms and risk adjustment programs. This post focuses on changes to benefit, eligibility, and enrollment standards and requirements...

Published Sun, Dec 18 2016 3:34 PM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Payment Policy, Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage

Health Affairs Issue: Oral Health And More

The December issue of Health Affairs explores the state of oral health . Editor-in-chief Alan Weil writes that “the divide between dental care and medical care is vast, has significant consequences for patients, and is entirely of our own making.” More...

Published Mon, Dec 05 2016 1:00 PM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Oral Health, Dental Care, Elsewhere@ Health Affairs, Featured

CMS Acts On Premium Payments By Dialysis Facilities, Special Enrollment Period Eligibility

Insurers that participate in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces have complained that that enrollment eligibility rules are being abused in ways that have increased the cost of marketplace coverage and destabilized the marketplace risk pools. On December...

Published Tue, Dec 13 2016 11:39 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, open enrollment, dialysis, special enrollment periods, end-stage renal disease

Two Recipients Of ACA Cost-Sharing Subsidies Seek Voice In Litigation

On December 20, 2016, one day after Donald Trump was officially elected president of the United States but before he has actually taken office, two individuals filed the first of what are likely to be many lawsuits challenging actions of the Trump administration...

Published Tue, Dec 20 2016 1:51 PM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage

President-Elect Trump Selects Price For HHS And Verma For CMS

As has been widely reported, President-elect Donald Trump has put forward the names of Tom Price for Secretary of Health and Human Services and Seema Verma for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Price is a six-term Republican...

Published Thu, Dec 01 2016 10:26 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, Medicaid and CHIP, open enrollment, risk corridors, Medicaid waivers

CMS Finalizes New Marketplace Payment Rule, Effective January 17, 2017

Late in the day on December 16, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the Benefit and Payment Parameters rule for 2018. ( fact sheet ). It also released the final 2018 Letter to Issuers in the Federally Facilitated Marketplaces...

Published Sat, Dec 17 2016 5:03 PM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Payment Policy, Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, federally facilitated marketplaces, benefit and payment parameters, letter to issuers, Congressional Review Act

Why Now? Concerns About End-Of-Life Health Care Policy

In Anne Scitovsky’s 1984 review of end-of-life health care costs she too wondered why the issue was receiving increased attention just then. Perhaps, she thought, the impetus was that health care expenditures had recently risen to 10 percent of GDP. But...

Published Mon, Dec 19 2016 5:59 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Palliative Care, Featured, Dying in America, hospice, End of Life & Serious Illness

Obama Administration Lays Out Its Case For ACA’s Success

President-elect Trump has characterized the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as a disaster and has promised to repeal it. He has partners in the Republican House and Senate, which are also pledged to repeal the ACA, although probably with some kind of a transition...

Published Thu, Dec 15 2016 6:49 AM by Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, open enrollment, hospital-acquired condition, Council of Economic Advisors

December 2016 - Health Affairs

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