Health Reform
Two Views on Insurers’ Contingency Plans: Full-Speed Ahead or ‘Slow-Walk’ Decisions From AIS's Health Reform Week - If you are the CEO of a health plan that is trying to get ready for the big health reform-law changes in 2014, but that knows they all are dependent on what the Supreme Court rules perhaps more than two months from now and on election results more than six months away, what approach do you take? Go full-speed ahead, J. Bradley Wilson, president and CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, tells HRW, because there’s no other way to be ready in time. Read more
Insurance Execs Can Sit On Boards, But Will States Offer Them a Seat? (with Table: States That Bar or…From Inside Health Insurance Exchanges - Consumer advocates say giving health insurance executives a seat on an exchange board is akin to having the fox guard the henhouse. But health plan executives contend that if you’re going to build a rocket, you need a rocket scientist. The final rule on insurance exchanges, released March 12, requires that at least one voting member of an exchange board be a consumer advocate. It also allows insurers and other industry… Read more
Preliminary Data From ACO Models Show Improving Quality; Some Question Results From ACO Business News - In answering one of the most anticipated questions about the accountable care movement — can ACOs reduce costs and improve quality? — some developers in releasing preliminary data say they’re hitting these targets by reducing or avoiding hospital stays and doing a better job of monitoring chronic illnesses. In early March, Kaiser Health News reported that AdvocateCare, the ACO formed by Advocate Health Care and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of… Read more
On the Health Reform Bookshelf
Health Reform Blog
By Steve Davis - May 9, 2012
A report released this month by the House Ways and Means Committee is 100% correct: Large employers would save billions of dollars over the next decade by eliminating health coverage for their employers and instead paying a $2,000 per-employee penalty. But employee benefits consultants doubt many,...
By Jennifer Lubell - April 26, 2012
In its decision to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) as well as invest in bundled payments and a clinically integrated network in the commercial sector, Cincinnati health system Mercy Health thought it would be prudent to form a limited liability company, or LLC....
By Jennifer Lubell - April 24, 2012
UnitedHealth Group has been racking up acquisitions of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, not to mention several contract awards that previously belonged to Blues plans. As one health care observer explains, larger plans like United are seeking to expand their presence nationally, to prepare for...
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