Under the overhaul, a new, permanent panel called the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, or "MacPAC," will scrutinize whether payment levels are adequate to ensure access to quality care in the Medicaid program. MacPAC, which will hold its first meeting Sept. 23 and 24, owes its creation to the 2009 law that reauthorized the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) until 2014. But until the overhaul provided actual funding, the panel existed only on paper. Read more »
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it's offering $51 million in grants to help states get started creating state-based health insurance exchanges, and that should help. And in a second move, the department also issued a notice requesting public comment on standards needed to create a successful exchange. Read more »
The payment system announced for treating Medicare patients in dialysis facilities marks the first time the traditional Medicare program is varying payment levels based on the quality of care. While hospitals, doctors, and other providers have been paid higher rates for years for reporting data on the quality of their care, dialysis facilities will be the first providers to see payments rise or fall based on what such data shows. Read more »
County-by-county health insurance estimates released by the Census Bureau show that residents of the upper Midwest, along with their New England counterparts, enjoy some of the highest rates of health insurance coverage in the nation, while the South and Southwest lag behind. The statistics indicate that the new health care law extending coverage to 31 million people when fully implemented in 2014 may have its most profound effect in those southern states. Read more »
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a clarification of its rules requiring insurers in the individual market to accept children with pre-existing medical conditions, saying they would not have to offer insurance at all times during the year. Read more »
Employers are leaping at chances to put wellness programs in place but it’s unclear if many are making much difference in workers' health, according to a new study by the Center for Studying Health System Change for the nonpartisan National Institute for Health Care Reform. Read more »