Blues: new incentives ‘crucial’ to healthcare
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association says any plans for healthcare reform should include incentives to provide quality care. At a Capitol Hill briefing last month, BCBSA executivess told White House and Congressional staffers it is crucial to change incentives in the payment system to reward the delivery of high quality care, as 30 percent of today’s healthcare spending is going to care that is ineffective, redundant or inappropriate. BCBSA has established a nationwide Blue Distinction Designation Program that has so far recognized 800 specialty centers in 42 states for providing quality care based on evidence-based thresholds.
House panel scrutinizes poor healthcare coverage
The House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Health took a look last month at the instability of healthcare coverage in America. The hearing, called by Subcommittee Chairman Pete Starkef="/directory/stark-law-physician-self-referral-law" target="_blank" class="directory-item-link">Stark (D-Calif.), focused on the inadequacy of coverage options, which force people to forego needed medical care, even when they have insurance. Nearly 47 million people in this country are uninsured, and their ranks have been growing rapidly in recent years.
Groups ask Congress to reform MA program
A variety of labor and advocacy organizations are asking Congress to enact reforms in the Medicare Advantage program, contending that the current payment system provides excessive tax subsidies to the insurance companies in the program. The groups co-signed a letter to Congress earlier last month. The letter also asked lawmakers to put restraints on aggressive and deceptive marketing of the plans.
SCHIP directive ignores child health research
The first judicial challenge to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services directive regarding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has been filed. Early last month, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, a national law and consulting firm, filed an amicus brief on behalf of more than 25 prominent health policy and child health experts in federal district court. The brief supports the position of the State of New Jersey. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a policy directive in August 2007 that it claimed was directed at preventing health insurance “crowd-out” (when one form of health insurance is substituted for another).