More Medicare Advantage plans nabbed top quality marks for their 2016 plans than last year, and other news

Modern Healthcare

  • More Medicare Advantage plans nabbed top quality marks for their 2016 plans than last year, a sign that private insurers are trying to meet the federal government's standards for high-quality products and coordinated healthcare for seniors. But the CMS' star ratings also showed that private Medicare plans are still failing on many levels, particularly when it comes to prescription drug benefits. Attaining four stars has clear marketing advantages, but the CMS has tied financial incentives to the rating system as well. Plans that earn at least four stars receive a 5% boost to their monthly per-member payments from Medicare, while those with lower scores receive nothing extra.

  • For the second year in a row, the nation's top two kidney-care providers performed at significantly different quality levels, according to CMS data. DaVita HealthCare Partners beat out competitor Fresenius Medical Care in the agency's four- and five-star rating categories. A total of 5,841 dialysis facilities received a star rating from the CMS, 261 more facilities than in the previous report, according to a Modern Healthcare analysis of the newly released data. Of the 586 top performers in the five-star category, DaVita owned 202 facilities, while Fresenius owned 110. On the low end of the rating scale, Fresenius owned 279 facilities among the 575 providers in the one-star category, compared with DaVita, which owned 38.

  • The White House has strengthened consumer privacy protections on the government's health insurance website HealthCare.gov as a new sign-up season nears. HealthCare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan said in a blog post that the Web page will have a new “privacy manager” that lets consumers opt out of embedded connections to third-party advertising, analytics and social media sites. The administration originally had said embedded third-party connections could help consumers have a better overall experience on HealthCare.gov. But the Associated Press reported this year that the links also could allow personal information—including age, income, ZIP code, whether a person smokes or is pregnant—to be sent to technology firms involved in marketing and advertising.
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