Having trouble logging in to healthcare.gov? Have no fear. In response to opening-day technical glitches and heavy traffic to its insurance marketplace website, HHS posted data Tuesday afternoon showing available plans and premiums across the 36 states with federally facilitated insurance exchanges.
A total of 140 insurance issuers are offering 1,779 different insurance plans across the marketplace, according to the data.
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A Medicare test of accountable care in Wisconsin slowed cost growth last year for about 20,000 seniors. That's good news, of course, to economists and policymakers. But for hospitals, the news was not all good because most payers continue to reimburse on a fee-for-service basis rewarding more admissions and more volume of services.
An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association said that for hospitals that participate in Medicare accountable care programs, such as ThedaCare in Appleton, Wis., competing financial incentives can make their ACO efforts counterproductive.
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A report released Thursday by the Center for Studying Health System Change suggests that New York state, particularly Long Island, will not see much in the way of health insurance expansion in the coming months and years.
According to “Long Island Follows Bumpy New York Road to National Health Reform,” part of that is because New York already has a generous Medicaid program, and Long Island also is one of the most affluent communities in the state, with a high rate of privately insured residents.
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Two years ago, Florida Hospital successfully sought a state license to operate its own health plan. That plan soon stalled, as officials realized the cost and time required to build an insurance arm would be too great.
A faster route, they decided, would be to buy one.
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Minuteman Health, a not-for-profit, consumer-governed health plan sponsored by Vanguard Health Systems and Tufts Medical Center, said Monday that it received an HMO license and premium rate approval from Massachusetts regulators.
The plan will offer individual and small-group plans both on and off Massachusetts' state insurance exchange starting in October.
Minuteman is one of the Consumer Operated and Oriented plans in 24 states around the country made possible by startup loans authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The goal is to encourage the launch of consumer-friendly plans that foster greater competition in the insurance market. While other co-op plans around the country previously received approval to sell plans on state insurance exchanges, what sets Minuteman apart is that it was originally sponsored by two major hospital systems. Many of the co-op plans were organized by groups and individuals not associated with major providers or investor-owned companies like Vanguard.
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A patient engagement and reporting program linked to financial incentives yielded multiple improvements in health measures for employees of UnitedHealth Group, according to a study published in the August issue of Health Affairs.
UnitedHealth employees enrolled in the health insurance company's Rewards for Health program were able to earn points good for premium reductions as high as $1,200 for family coverage. The rewards program used health screenings targeting diabetes, cancer and other diseases as well as more general weight control based on the worker's body mass index.
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It's hard to get doctors to follow practice guidelines.
Despite the publication of numerous guidelines on the management of routine back pain, physicians surprisingly are not following the advice, and “guideline-discordant care” is on the rise, according to a study posted on the JAMA Internal Medicine website.
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It comes as no surprise to many observers that regional health information exchanges are struggling financially.
Research published this week in Health Affairs concluded that “there is a substantial risk that many current efforts to promote health information exchange will fail.”
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Patients are more likely to fill prescriptions that treat costly, chronic diseases when health insurers offer them a financial incentive to do so through value-based insurance design. That's the good news in a research review just published by the journal Health Affairs.
The bad news? Research has yet to show any significant drop in overall medical spending, wrote authors of the review, which examined prior studies of value-based design and proper medication use.
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First Aetna, and now UnitedHealth.
United, the nation's largest health insurer based on enrollment, followed in the footsteps of Aetna's move last month and decided to exit California's individual market. That includes leaving the state's individual health insurance exchange after saying it would participate, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
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First Aetna, and now UnitedHealth.
United, the nation's largest health insurer based on enrollment, followed in the footsteps of Aetna's move last month and decided to exit California's individual market. That includes leaving the state's individual health insurance exchange after saying it would participate, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
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