Policy and Legislation
Call it a post-reelection prediction: On the day after President Barack Obama secured a second term at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, an attorney for a prominent healthcare law firm suggested that even Republican governors would succumb to the lure of expanding Medicaid on the federal dime.
With the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) expansion of insurance coverage expected to increase the need for primary care services -- requiring an estimated additional 7,200 primary care providers -- 7 million Americans could likely face a primary care physician shortage after 2014.
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 went into effect in July 2010 and for the most part, health plans are complying with the legislation and figuring out how to manage costs.
The Department of Health and Human Services has published final rules for essential health benefits and several other policies that clarify rules on mental health benefits.
Florida's GOP Gov. Rick Scott will adopt Medicaid expansion for three years while the federal government pays full freight, and then leave it to state lawmakers to re-authorize it.
Two percent cuts may not sound deep, but the sequester, scheduled to start March 1 unless Congress acts, will be painful, and has the healthcare industry worried.
The New Jersey Hospital Association is expanding an innovative "gainsharing" pilot program designed to improve healthcare efficiency and reduce costs by promoting better coordination and collaboration among New Jersey hospitals and physicians.
Medicare patients can anticipate paying considerably less for their diabetes and other products starting in July when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services expands its competitive bidding for durable medical equipment (DME) and mail-order program but the DME industry continues to point out problems with the program.
CMS is hosting the next semi-annual meeting of the Advisory Panel on Hospital Outpatient Payment for 2013 on March 11, 2013.
Despite improvements, Medicare has once again been placed on the Government Accountability Office's high-risk list -- a designation the program has held since 1990.