Contributor: Jane DuBose
Topic: payment reform, ACOs, Supreme Court ruling
If the Affordable Care Act is overturned by the Supreme Court in a ruling expected any day – and some say there’s at least an even chance that could happen -- we’ll all be overwhelmed by the messy details of reassembling healthcare reform.
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Contributor: Laura Beerman
Topic: Dual-eligibles, Medicaid, Medicare
Despite a cancelled flight, losing my cellphone and an overly flirtatious hotel concierge, there was one undeniable benefit from the Medicaid Congress I recently attended: getting the skinny on the emerging dual-eligibles demonstrations. Dual-eligibles are those who receive both Medicare and Medicaid benefits, and the demonstrations are designed to improve care coordination and cost-effectiveness for this population. But are they really demonstrations?
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Contributor: Carolyn McMeekin
Topic: Healthcare reform
Read the tea leaves however you like, but the news that top Obama administration official Steve Larsen is resigning to take a position with UnitedHealth Group is significant.
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Contributor: Mark Cherry
Topic: Healthcare reform
UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Humana made big news this week by promising to keep some already implemented provisions of Obamacare, even if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns healthcare reform. The move to maintain preventive care, young-adult coverage on parents’ policies and other provisions of the Affordable Care Act was good PR for the insurers, making it seem like they were making concessions when really they aren't giving up very much at all. Republicans touted the pledged benefits as proof that reform isn’t needed, as if the reason 16 percent of Americans are uninsured is because of lifetime maximum benefits and expensive vaccinations.
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Contributor: Ric Gross
Topic: Medicaid
In November 2011, Ohio State made national news by landing native son Urban Meyer as its next football coach, signing the in-demand coach to a six-year, $24 million contract that includes use of a private jet, a golf course membership, and bonuses up to $2.4 million if he is still coaching the Buckeyes in 2018. Based on that blockbuster deal, perhaps Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services could use OSU’s legal team to help evaluate Medicaid contracts.
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Contributor: Bill Melville
Topic: Retail clinics, health systems, healthcare reform
The drumbeat for reducing healthcare expenses is reverberating in every market. That drumbeat, along with the drive to better coordinate care as prescribed in the healthcare reform bill, has spurred some unexpected partnerships.
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Contributor: Mark Cherry
Topic: Healthcare reform
Three recent developments demonstrate not only the leverage that physicians could have in the coming healthcare landscape, but also how health insurers may find themselves squeezed out of the primary-care space by delivery models that are equipped with convenient access, extensive claims data and more immediate wellness and disease programs.
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Contributor: Laura Beerman
Topic: ACOs
The healthcare and financial industries alike are still scratching their heads over the acquisition of HealthCare Partners by DaVita, the nation’s second-largest dialysis provider for patients with chronic kidney disease. As noted in a previous HealthLeaders-InterStudy blog, the $4.42 billion deal to purchase HealthCare Partners is so large and strategic that it may prove to be a harbinger of a new day in the provider world.
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Contributor: Jane DuBose
Topic: Integrated Delivery Networks, Physicians
Physician office consolidation has become so commonplace that it’s hard to take notice. But lastweek’s announcement of a $4.42 billion deal by DaVita Inc. to purchase HealthCare Partners is so large and strategic that it may prove to be a harbinger of a new day in the provider world.
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Contributor: Sheri Sellmeyer
Topic: Medicare star ratings
Consumers look to expert ratings to choose restaurants, buy cars, and decide on flat-screen televisions, but they are paying little heed to the star ratings on Medicare plans
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