Health Affairs

Grand-Aides And Health Policy: Reducing Readmissions Cost-Effectively

Hospital readmissions for the same condition within 30 days likely should not occur, and most often indicate system failure. Readmitted patients are either discharged too early, should be placed into palliative care or hospice, or most often are victims...

Published Wed, Oct 29 2014 9:15 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Payment, Health Care Costs, Workforce, Access, Quality, Hospitals, Health Care Delivery

North Carolina Dental Board v. FTC: A Bright Line On Whiter Teeth?

On October 14, 2014, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners vs. Federal Trade Commission . The case does not involve the Affordable Care Act, but it goes to the heart of the professional self-regulatory...

Published Thu, Oct 30 2014 9:28 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Policy, Politics, States, Competition, Workforce, Health Law

Transforming Care Through Transparency

By year’s end, the Department of Health and Human Services will announce plans for making its Physician Compare website into a consumer-friendly source of information for Medicare patients about the quality of care provided by doctors and other health...

Published Fri, Oct 05 2012 6:43 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Physicians, States, Quality

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

Hospice Payment Reforms Are A Modest Step Forward, But More Changes Are Needed

On August 6, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule to update the Medicare hospice payment rates and wage index. This change was made in response to Section 3132(a) of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which called...

Published Mon, Jan 04 2016 8:19 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, End-of-Life Care, Aging, Palliative Care, Featured, Payment Policy, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, Long-term Services and Supports, Home Health, CMS, Social Work, Nursing, Medicare Advantage, hospice, MedPAC

Health Affairs January Issue: High-Cost Populations, Medicaid Spending, And More

The January issue of Health Affairs explores the diverse needs of the small share of the population that accounts for the largest share of health spending in the United States. The issue also contains two studies examining how the Affordable Care Act...

Published Tue, Jan 05 2016 1:09 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Global Health, Hospitals, Elsewhere@ Health Affairs, Medicaid and CHIP, ACA, Health Professionals, Medicaid expansion, Health Affairs journal, Substance Use Disorders

HHS And CVS Health Partner To Promote Consumer-Centered Preventive Services

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) and CVS Health recently formed a public-private partnership. This partnership aims to increase awareness of the availability of convenient...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2016 10:09 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Public Health, Primary Care, Quality, Population Health, Featured, Organization and Delivery, Health Professionals, HHS, preventative care, ODPHP, Minute Clinic, retail clinics, Healthfinder.gov, CVS Health

Obama Vetoes ACA Repeal, And Other Health Reform Developments

Implementing Health Reform. On January 8, 2016, President Obama to the surprise of no one vetoed HR 3762, the budget reconciliation act that sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In his veto message , the President laid out the potential consequences...

Published Sat, Jan 09 2016 2:55 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, ACA repeal, worlplace wellness programs, ACA tax provisions

Are Provider-Led Health Care Networks Too Big To Fail?

Are provider-led health care networks equipped to function like insurance companies? Do they have the expertise and experience to assess population health risks and costs and to accurately price health insurance products? The answer is no, and the current...

Published Tue, Jan 12 2016 10:45 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Physicians, Hospitals, Population Health, Featured, Payment Policy, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, ACOs, physician perspective

Request For Abstracts: Health Affairs Cluster On Health Care Quality In India

Health Affairs is planning to publish a group of papers on the quality of health care in India, which will present research and issues related to policies involved in improving the delivery of health services in that country. Among other topics, we are...

Published Thu, Jan 14 2016 11:28 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Global Health, Elsewhere@ Health Affairs, request for abstracts, India, Health Affairs journal

Reconciliation Of Advance Payment Of Cost-Sharing Reductions

Implementing Health Reform. On January 15, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published at its REGTAP.info website (registration required) a Draft Manual for Reconciliation of Advance Payment of Cost-Sharing Reductions for Benefit Years...

Published Mon, Jan 18 2016 8:15 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, cost-sharing reduction payments

After Insurer Complaints, Small Steps To Toughen Special Enrollment Period Eligibility

Implementing Health Reform. One of the central Affordable Care Act strategies for expanding access to health insurance (and thus to health care) has been to create a stable individual insurance market where individuals and families can find affordable...

Published Wed, Jan 20 2016 5:14 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, special enrollment periods, health insurance marketplaces

Supplemental Benefits Under Medicare Advantage

Medicare Advantage has grown rapidly since the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, and now covers 17 million or 33 percent of the 54 million Medicare beneficiaries — up from 13 percent a decade ago. This option allows seniors and the disabled to receive...

Published Thu, Jan 21 2016 10:00 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Payment Policy, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, CMS, fee-for-service, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Modernization Act

Health Affairs Briefing: Vaccines

As Seth Berkely, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, notes in an interview in the forthcoming issue of Health Affairs , “Vaccines do not deliver themselves.” They also don’t finance their own development or distribution, educate the public...

Published Mon, Jan 25 2016 12:38 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Public Health, Global Health, Elsewhere@ Health Affairs, vaccines, Health Affairs events

A Payment Reform Conundrum: Reconciling Conflicting Policy Goals

In early 2015, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Sylvia Burwell, announced goals for shifting Medicare payment from fee-for-service (FFS) to alternative payment models (APMs). Qualifying APMs include, among others, accountable...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2016 7:50 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Quality, Hospitals, Population Health, Featured, Payment Policy, Insurance and Coverage, Organization and Delivery, Costs and Spending, ACOs, Medicare Advantage, MACRA, Alternative Payment Models

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