Chris Anderson
A new study from Rand Corp. published in the May edition of Health Affairs indicates that consumer-directed health plans could save $57 billion annually if they grew to comprise 50 percent of all employer-sponsored health insurance in the U.S.
For a company in need of strong leadership at the top as it looks to complete the acquisition of West Penn Allegheny Health System, reopen negotiations with recalcitrant provider UPMC and battle rival health insurers entering the market, now is not a good time to be looking for a new CEO.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC) is a regional insurer serving the greater Kansas City, Mo., market and two Kansas counties. It counts nearly one million members. In 2009, it launched a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) program with area primary care physicians, which has grown from 67 practitioners at its inception to more than 420 doctors today caring for 110,000 Blue KC members. Building on the success of its PCMH initiative, the insurer is bringing a similar model to area health systems and recently signed St. Luke’s Health System as the first under its new Collaborative Value Program. Senior vice president and chief contracting officer Brian Burns spoke recently with Healthcare Finance News Senior Editor Chris Anderson about using the PCMH model as the backbone of Blue KC’s health system collaborations.
In late March, Humana, one of the largest providers of Medicare Advantage plans and Medicaid company CareSource, announced a strategic alliance intended to help both companies more effectively manage members that qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid – the “dual-eligible” population.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week gave tentative approval to provide $1.9 billion in initial funding to help Oregon overhaul its Medicaid system, which the state says has the potential to save $11 billion over 10 years.
The term “unelected bureaucrats” has been bandied about in Congress when referring to a particularly loathsome provision - to some - of the Affordable Care Act: the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). The reference is to the 15 people who will serve on IPAB, all of whom are subject to Senate confirmation.
BALTIMORE – While legislators and judges in Washington D.C. work to either eviscerate or preserve the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, two men in Maryland – one a serial entrepreneur and the other a physician and respected public health official – work diligently to create a new model for healthcare delivery and insurance, a self-described “audacious attempt to create systemic change.”
By now, the nine justices of the Supreme Court know the fate of the Affordable Care Act and the individual mandate and are actively writing drafts of the decision, which most expect will be handed down in late June.
In the latest salvo against the Affordable Care Act, Ways and Means Committee Republicans published a report this week that contends employers would save money by dropping coverage for employees and shifting them to the state health insurance exchanges and paying the $2,000 per employee penalty for doing so.
A new report released by the Institute of Medicine this week urges the Food and Drug Administration to adopt a full life cycle approach to drug safety oversight that would include strengthening data collection and the monitoring of drugs after they have received FDA approval.