Health Affairs

National Health Spending 1960-2013

The last two years have seen two notable events for the U.S. health care industry. In 2014, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) led to the largest expansion of health insurance coverage since 1965, and in 2015 the Medicare and Medicaid...

Published Mon, Nov 23 2015 10:40 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Featured, Payment Policy, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, Medicaid and CHIP, Drugs and Medical Technology, CMS, health care prices, long term health spending, non-price factors

The 2017 Benefit and Payment Parameters Proposed Rule: Drilling Down

On November 21, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the 2017 Benefit and Payment Parameters (BPP), the annual rule through which it sets out Affordable Care Act policy for the coming years. This...

Published Mon, Nov 23 2015 6:32 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Featured, Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage

Proposed Benefits And Payment Rule Includes Standardized Plans, New Network Adequacy Standards

On November 20, 2015, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for its 2017 Benefit and Payment Parameters (BPP) rule. Every fall CMS publishes a BPP proposed rule, which is finalized every spring...

Published Fri, Nov 20 2015 8:51 PM by Health Affairs Blog

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

Risk Corridor Payments, UnitedHealth, Cooperatives, And The Marketplaces

Implementing Health Reform. On November 19, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released national and insurer level data on the results of the 2014 medical loss ratio program and insurer level data on the results of the 2014 risk...

Published Fri, Nov 20 2015 9:46 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Payment Policy, Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, CMS, medical loss ratio, qualified health plans, risk corridor payments, United Healthgroup

Expanded Coverage Appears To Explain Much Of The Recent Increase In Health Job Growth

The rate of health sector hiring started to increase in the middle of 2014, and has continued to accelerate through the first three quarters of 2015 . The timing of this acceleration corresponds to the recent expansion of health insurance coverage, but...

Published Fri, Nov 20 2015 9:18 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Featured, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, Health Professionals, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, health sector jobs, American Community Survey

Medicaid And Access To Care: The CMS Equal Access Rule

On November 2, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a long-awaited final regulation implementing Medicaid’s so-called “equal access” requirement. The rule is an endgame of sorts in a legal saga that began nearly 40 years ago...

Published Thu, Nov 19 2015 11:10 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Featured, Payment Policy, Costs and Spending, Medicaid and CHIP, Equity and Disparities, Long-term Services and Supports, California, managed care, Request for Information, Equal Access Rule

The Payment Reform Landscape: Specialty Pharmacy — Can Payment Reform Offer Relief?

The number of specialty pharmaceuticals available has increased from 10 to more than 900 over the last 20 years. This is good news for the patients who sorely need these drugs to improve, or even reverse, their medical conditions. However, specialty pharmacy...

Published Thu, Nov 19 2015 9:41 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Featured, Payment Policy, Costs and Spending, Drugs and Medical Technology, Catalyst for Payment Reform, Sovaldi, Turing Pharmaceuticals, Daraprim, retail health clinics

What We Discovered At ‘The Frontiers’ About Financing And Leading Improvements In Health

From the Wild West to the “final frontier” of space, the metaphor of the frontier has always served as a touchstone for American optimism. ReThink Health , an initiative of the Rippel Foundation , shares that optimism. Through our work with changemakers...

Published Wed, Nov 18 2015 2:10 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Health Reform, Policy, Payment, Quality, Innovation, Health Philanthropy, GrantWatch, Payment Policy, Organization and Delivery, Suzanne Delbanco, ReThink Health initiative, Regional Health Systems

Health Affairs Financing Long-Term Services And Supports Briefing Recap

On Tuesday, November 17, 2015, Health Affairs commemorated the release of the Web First article, “ Financing Long-Term Services And Supports: Options Reflect Trade-Offs For Older Americans And Federal Spending ,” by Melissa M. Favreault, Howard Gleckman...

Published Wed, Nov 18 2015 1:30 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Aging, Long-Term Care, Population Health, Featured, Insurance and Coverage, Costs and Spending, Long-term Services and Supports, LTSS, Urban Institute, AARP, SCAN Foundation, LTCFinancing, LeadingAge

Prescription Drugs And The Slowdown In Health Care Spending

Several studies have examined the underlying sources for the recent slowdown in health care spending. These analyses have focused largely on the role of the 2007-2009 recession, the increasing prevalence of high deductible health insurance plans, and...

Published Wed, Nov 18 2015 8:30 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Quality, Featured, Costs and Spending, Drugs and Medical Technology, generic drugs, Prescription Drugs, medication adherence

Rebuilding Trust In Medicine: How The Public Can Interpret Differing Guidelines

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) found that Americans’ trust in medicine has declined significantly over the past few decades. In fact, it’s at an all-time low: just 23 percent of people in the U.S. have “great confidence...

Published Tue, Nov 17 2015 9:00 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Quality, Featured, Health Professionals, National Academy of Medicine, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, clinical guidelines, American Cancer Society

CMS Initiative For Hip And Knee Replacements Supports Quality And Care Improvements For Medicare Beneficiaries

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published the final rule for the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model, a mandatory bundled payment model for lower extremity joint replacement (LEJR) services in certain geographic...

Published Mon, Nov 16 2015 1:36 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Quality, Health Policy Lab, Payment Policy, Organization and Delivery, Costs and Spending, CMS, Bundled Payments, patient experience, lower extremity joint replacement

Health Affairs Web First: Modeling New Ways Of Financing Long-Term Services And Supports

In the United States today, some six million Americans ages 65 and older need long-term help with various routine activities of daily living; that number is expected to reach 15.1 million by 2055. Such assistance costs each person an average of $138,000...

Published Mon, Nov 16 2015 1:15 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Long-Term Care, Elsewhere@ Health Affairs, Insurance and Coverage, Medicaid and CHIP, Long-term Services and Supports, Web First, consumer choices

Administration Finalizes Regulations Implementing ACA Insurance Reforms

Implementing Health Reform. The Affordable Care Act, adopted in March of 2010, contained a number of insurance reforms that were to be effective six months after the date of its enactment. During May, June, and July of 2010, the departments that share...

Published Sat, Nov 14 2015 3:15 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Following the ACA, Insurance and Coverage

Health Policy Brief: Enforcing Mental Health Parity

A new policy brief from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) looks at the issue of enforcing mental health parity five years after the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) took effect. It significantly updates...

Published Fri, Nov 13 2015 9:00 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Public Health, Medicare, Quality, Mental Health, Elsewhere@ Health Affairs, Medicaid and CHIP, Health Policy Brief, Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act

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