Posts Tagged ‘Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’

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Sebelius Asks Civil Right Activists to Defend the ACA

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has asked civil rights activists to help defend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), noting that the healthcare law faces an “enemy” whose goal is to set American health policy back half a century.  The remarks come two months before the Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling that could strike down the law.

Sebelius described the ACA as an crucial weapon against racial disparities that have long meant higher infant mortality rates, shorter life spans and limited access to medical services for minorities.  “The enemy is at the door and we know that they would like to dismantle these initiatives,” Sebelius told the annual convention of the National Action Network, a civil rights group led by the Reverend Al Sharpton.  “Healthcare inequalities have been one of the most persistent forms of injustice,” she said. “Now is not the time to turn back.”

Civil rights advocates and the minorities they often represent form a key segment of the Democratic base, especially if the Supreme Court strikes down Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.  Research shows that low-income Americans, including many minorities, have significantly less access to medical care and suffer higher rates of childhood illnesses, hypertension, heart disease, AIDS and other diseases.

Designed to bring healthcare coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans, the ACA has become a pet target for Republicans mainly because of an `individual mandate that requires most Americans to have healthcare insurance by 2014.  “We’ve got folks who are committed to undoing…the important initiatives that we’ve made in the last few years,” Sebelius said.  “Frankly, they want to go back and undo Medicare and Medicaid from the mid-1960s.  They want to roll us back years and years.”

The House of Representatives voted recently to partially privatize Medicare and convert Medicaid to a block-grant program for states, although the legislation is likely to be stalled in the Senate.  “I’m here to ask you to help,” Sebelius said.  “If we can begin to close the disparities in health, we begin to close disparities in other areas, too.”

Sebelius asked religious leaders, health advocates and other minority leaders to help the Obama administration educate the public about the healthcare law’s many benefits. The law, which becomes fully effective on January 1, 2014, has already benefited minorities by extending private insurance coverage to young adults, providing free preventive services for those with insurance and prohibiting coverage denials for children with pre-existing conditions.

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CMS Chooses 27 Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

As the nation waits for the Supreme Court to rule on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), a key provision that will transform the delivery of healthcare is moving ahead.  According to Kaiser Health News, the Obama administration announced that 27 health systems have been designated as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in Medicare’s Shared Savings Program, which offers financial incentives for physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers to create more integrated healthcare delivery.  The new ACOs will serve an estimated 375,000 individuals in 18 states.

ACO supporters say they improve care for Medicare beneficiaries and slow rising costs by altering the incentives that affect how physicians and hospitals operate.  Experts cite as models such respected health systems as the Mayo Clinic and the Geisinger Health System of Pennsylvania.  Rather than being paid for each service, ACOs reward providers that manage chronic disease and meet certain quality standards, including reducing hospital admissions and emergency room visits.  If they improve care while holding down costs, the systems can share in the savings.

CMS is reviewing another 150 applications seeking to enter the program, suggesting that the Shared Savings Program is succeeding.  The program is “off to a very phenomenal start,” said Jonathan Blum, a CMS deputy administrator.  “We are on track to fundamentally transform the (Medicare) fee-for-service program.”

Late last year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) chose 32 organizations to participate in an advanced version of the Medicare program.  These “pioneers” have made significant progress in developing the ACO model, with many already largely functioning as ACOs.  During their first two years the pioneers will assume more risk, but with a greater potential reward.  Although hospitals were expected to lead the ACO field, Blum noted that the majority of ACOs are physician-led organizations.  He also said many of the organizations are working with private health insurers to serve patients not in the Medicare program.

Chas Roades, chief research officer at the Advisory Board Company in Washington, D.C., warned that as the ACOS take off and “people actually start to deliver care in a different way, it’s messy and complicated.  There will be successes and failures, and it may go slower than policy-makers would like it to.”  According to Roades, it’s important that CMS create some way for the pioneer ACOs to share their data and best practices.  “It’s a slow ramp but everyone will be watching very closely to see how these early ACOs succeed,” Roades said.

Under the shared savings program, ACOs must meet 33 quality measures relating to care coordination and patient safety, appropriate preventive health services, improved care for at-risk populations and the patient experience of care – while reducing the costs of care.  ACOs that meet the standards will be eligible to share in the program’s savings.

“We are encouraged by this strong start and confident that by the end of this year, we will have a robust program in place, benefitting millions of seniors and people with disabilities across the country,” said CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.

Regarding the anticipated Supreme Court ruling, Emily Brower, an executive director with Atrius Health, operator of a pioneer ACO in Massachusetts, said “It’s not changing anything for us.  This is a model of care we’ve been trying to evolve into since before the pioneer program existed.  We’ll continue making investments, and if the law is overturned, we’ll be asking where the return on investment is for us, if not in shared savings.”

Writing for the e-Care Management blog, Vince Kuraitis is unimpressed.  “I had been anticipating this announcement as a defining moment for Medicare’s thrust into accountable care.  My expectations had been that we would see either:  Boom — a big splash of new Medicare shared savings ACOs announced, including big name hospitals and medical groups that were starting large scale ACOs, perhaps with hundreds of thousands of patients.  Bust — no one showed up at the party.  Providers would have concluded that Medicare ACOs were too risky, bureaucratic, and high effort.  This isn’t the defining moment I thought it would be.  But that defining moment might be just around the corner.  Medicare’s announcement included a mention that they have 150 more Shared Savings ACO applications waiting in the wings.  Is the boom around the corner?”

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Physician Groups Go After Unnecessary Medical Tests

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

America’s physicians are embarking on an initiative to cut healthcare costs by ordering fewer unnecessary tests and treatments for their patients.  Nine prominent physician groups released lists of 45 common procedures they say are often unnecessary and may even harm patients. According to Kaiser Health News, “The move represents a high-profile effort by physicians to help reduce the extraordinary amount of unnecessary treatment, said to account for as much as a third of the $2.6 trillion Americans spend on healthcare each year.  Each of the societies, representing both primary care doctors and specialists, picked five procedures that medical evidence shows have little or no value for certain conditions, and which they say should be questioned by patients and their doctors.  The list includes such common practices as routine electrocardiograms for patients at low risk for heart disease, and antibiotics for mild sinus infections.”

Dr. Donald Berwick, formerly the Medicare administrator, called the campaign “a game changer.  This could be a turning point if it’s approached with energy,” Berwick said.  “Here you have scientifically grounded guidance from a number of major specialty societies addressing a very important problem, which is the overuse of ineffective care.”

“We need to use this opportunity to raise awareness that sometimes overtreatment or testing can be harmful,” said Glen Stream, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, one of the nine participating physician groups.  The Choosing Wisely campaign comes amid efforts – some called for in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) – to compare the effectiveness of treatments and to change payment incentives to physicians and hospitals to reward quality and penalize inefficiency.  But efforts to slow medical spending growth tend to be political, giving rise to fears of healthcare rationing or death panels.  “Anytime you are recommending against a test or treatment, people wonder ‘is it for some economic interest?’” Stream noted.

Among the nine groups backing the initiative are the American College of Cardiology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.  The effort is being spearheaded by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation (ABIM). Together, the participants represent nearly 375,000 physicians.

Writing in Time, Alice Park says that “Each of the nine professional groups has come up with five tests or procedures that it believes doctors and patients overuse routinely. The American Gastroenterological Association, for example, is recommending against repeat colonoscopies within 10 years of a normal result from a first colonoscopy for patients with no family history of colon cancer.  The American College of Physicians is advising against using MRI to image patients any time they complain of generalized low back pain, and heart experts say doctors should stop using stress echocardiograms in routine check-ups for patients who don’t have chest pain or other risk factors for heart disease or heart attack.”

One of the initiative’s goals is to make people “feel empowered to go to their doctor and say, ‘Do I really need this test?’” said Christine Cassel, president of the ABIM and the group’s foundation. John Santa, an internist and the director of the Health Ratings Center for Consumer Reports, said, “I think it’s courageous of cardiologists, internists and family physicians to suggest reducing services that they know generate income for some of their members.  I’m sure some of their members won’t be happy.”

According to Dr. Steven Weinberger, CEO of the American College of Physicians, “Most of us feel something like $750 billion or so could be eliminated from the system that we spend on healthcare.”  Weinberger said that unneeded diagnostic tests almost certainly account for $250 billion annually.  “I talk about this a fair amount around the country, and invariably physicians come up to me and recount their own anecdotes about overuse and misuse of care.”

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Healthcare Employment on a Strong Growth Trajectory

Monday, April 16th, 2012

Healthcare employment will continue to grow much faster than employment in general, with the number of jobs in home care and other ambulatory settings expected to grow by more than 40 percent by 2020, according to a new study from the Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) at the State University of New York at Albany.

Recent statistics from the Department of Labor focus on an expected hiring shift away from hospitals, as the system emphasizes preventive care and fewer admissions, said Jean Moore, CHWS director.  “For a long time, acute-care services tended to trump everything else, and that seems to be changing,” Moore said.  “There’s a growing awareness that it’s penny-wise and pound-foolish not to pay attention to preventive and primary care.”

Hospitals also are expected to keep hiring — nearly one million between now and 2020 — for a growth rate of 17 percent – as baby boomers age and need more inpatient care.

Physicians’ offices and other healthcare professionals are projected to hire 1.4 million people by 2020, a 36 percent increase.  The number of home health care jobs will soar by 872,000 – that’s an 81 percent growth rate.  The total number of ambulatory-care jobs will grow by 2.7 million by 2020, or 44 percent.

According to Kaiser Health News, healthcare is projected to be a growth industry, even if the Supreme Court strikes down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).  “One of the things I wasn’t expecting was how much growth there was even during the recession,” Moore said.  “I would have expected some tempering of the growth.”

Although total U.S. employment declined by two percent between 2000 and 2010, healthcare employment rose 25 percent — demonstrating the sector’s expanding share of the economy.  By 2020, nearly one of every nine American jobs will be in healthcare.  When you consider that four million new health jobs will be created and people retiring from existing ones, more than seven million new workers will be needed.  That includes more than one million nurses.

According to the report, administrative healthcare jobs were cut during the economic slump from 2008 to 2010, a time when providers added nursing and other clinical positions.  Recent reports suggest that hospitals are hiring additional administrative staff to keep up with the increased regulation required by the ACA.  “They may be rehiring the people they had to let go when times were tight,” Moore said.

Healthcare employment totaled 14.19 million in October of 2011, an increase from the 13.88 million a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Hospital jobs increased by 84,000 during the same time period.  Ambulatory services — physician offices, outpatient clinics and home health agencies added more than 173,000 positions.

Demand is strongest for general practitioners, nurse practitioners and physician assistants at private practices, community clinics, hospitals and long-term care facilities.  Demand also is high for physical therapists.  Some analysts predict that the shortage of physical therapists will increase as healthcare reform goes into effect.  Fewer uninsured Americans translates to a greater demand for physical therapy.  In response, medical schools are expanding and developing physical therapy training programs.

If anything, the physical therapist shortage will worsen, because in 2000, 15.6 percent were between the ages 50 and 64; 10 years later, 32 percent were in that age bracket, according to a report from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).  Unemployment among physical therapists remains remarkably low: In 2010, only 0.4 percent — one in 250 — of physical therapists were jobless.  “Nobody knows how accountable-care organizations and medical homes will shake out, but healthcare reform in general will decrease the number of uninsured, which will increase demand for physical therapists,” said Marc Goldstein, senior director of research for the APTA.  “Physical therapy programs are being developed or expanded, so the current level of 6,000 graduates annually should creep up.”

A survey by Sullivan, Cotter and Associates, Inc., a nationally-recognized compensation and human resource management consulting firm, over the last year, nearly 75 percent of respondents reported they increased their physician staffing levels; adding an average of 12 specialists and nine primary-care physicians to their staffs.  Another 75 percent said they plan to increase their physician staffs and mid-level providers over the next year.  “These data are consistent with the labor market shift in physician employment that has been occurring over the past few years,” said Kim Mobley, practice leader for physician compensation.  “We expect this trend to continue for some time.  This shift in the labor market has resulted in what has become a highly competitive market for physicians as organizations and physicians align to provide services in a high quality, more efficient manner.”

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HHS To Step Up Alzheimer’s Research

Monday, April 9th, 2012

Federal officials have taken another step toward their goal of better treatment for and even prevention of Alzheimer’s disease by 2025, according to Kaiser Health News. A more comprehensive, draft version of the Obama administration’s national plan to address Alzheimer’s is now available. Experts emphasized expanding and better coordinating disease research, primarily through public-private partnerships.  They also stressed improved preparation for the healthcare workforce, enhancing public outreach and providing Alzheimer’s families with financial and other support.  To achieve these goals, President Obama proposed an additional $106 million in federal funds as part of his 2013 budget.

The Alzheimer’s advisory council provides new specifics about how the money will be used.  For example, they propose creating registries to better direct Alzheimer’s patients into clinical trials, as well as establishing a national inventory of research investments.  On the healthcare side, the council proposes working with private partners to develop evidence-based guidelines for Alzheimer’s care and establishing a national clearinghouse to publicize those recommendations.  Additionally, the council advocates that new healthcare models – such as the medical homes and accountable care organizations promoted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) – be analyzed for outcomes among Alzheimer’s patients.

The draft plan, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), places top priority on treatment, and focuses on the burden the disease places on families and caregivers.  “Alzheimer’s burdens an increasing number of our nation’s elders and their families, and it is essential that we confront the challenge it poses to our public health,” President Barack Obama said.  The White House plans to divert an additional $50 million this year from HHS projects to Alzheimer’s research, and seeks an extra $80 million in new research funding in fiscal 2013.  “These investments will open new opportunities in Alzheimer’s disease research and jumpstart efforts to reach the 2025 goal,” according to HHS.

Eric Hall, president and chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America and a member of the advisory council that has been working with HHS, said the draft proposal addresses many of the panel’s concerns.  “Given the current economic environment that limits much-needed resources and the scientific unknowns of this disease, we believe that defeating Alzheimer’s disease will likely happen in a series of small victories,” Hall said.  He was particularly satisfied that the plan focuses on educating healthcare providers on detecting early signs of cognitive impairment and linking newly diagnosed families with support services.

A differing perspective was offered by George Vradenburg, chairman of USAgainstAlzheimer’s and an advisory panel member, who said the draft plan does not go far enough.  “This first draft fails to present a strategy aggressive enough to achieve the goal of preventing and treating Alzheimer’s within 13 years,” he said, noting that the plan lacks specific timelines and does not hold any high-level officials accountable for meeting the plan’s goals.

More than five million Americans already have Alzheimer’s or similar dementias, a number that is expected to rise to 16 million by 2050, along with skyrocketing medical and nursing home bills, because the population is aging so rapidly.  “They’ve covered the right topics.  What is needed now is more detail,” said Alzheimer’s Association President Harry Johns.  “There’s real recognition at this point that Alzheimer’s is devastating for not only the individual but for the families and caregivers.”

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HHS Issues New Rules on Healthcare Insurance Exchanges

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued its final rule aimed at implementing state health insurance exchange provisions of the federal healthcare law.  The rule becomes effective 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.  The regulation outlines details of the exchanges, which are scheduled to launch on January 1, 2014, and offer insurance plan options for individuals and small businesses, as well as federal subsidies for premiums.

The final rule outlines the minimum standards states must meet in establishing and operating their exchanges, such as individual and employer eligibility for enrollment.  The rule also outlines minimum standards that health insurers must meet to participate in an exchange and the standards employers must meet to participate in the exchange.  The regulation offers states “substantial discretion” in how to design and operate their exchanges.  HHS will accept comment on nine sections of the exchange rule, including provisions regarding the ability of a state to allow agents and brokers to assist qualified individuals in applying for advance payments of the premium tax credit and cost-sharing reductions for qualified health plans; Medicaid and CHIP regulations; options for conducting eligibility determinations; and verification for applicants.  This final rule does not address all of the insurance exchange provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).

“These policies give states the flexibility they need to design an exchange that works for them,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “These new marketplaces will offer Americans one-stop shopping for health insurance, where insurers will compete for your business.  More competition will drive down costs and Exchanges will give individuals and small businesses the same purchasing power big businesses have today.”

Among the regulations are a guide to set standards for establishing exchanges; setting up a Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP); performing the basic functions of the exchange; and certifying health plans for participation in the exchange; as well as setting up a streamlined, web-based system for consumers to apply for and enroll in qualified health plans and insurance affordability programs.  The announcement is the culmination of more than two years’ work with states, small businesses, consumers, and health insurance plans.  The administration examined models of exchanges; convened numerous meetings and regional listening sessions across the country with stakeholders; and consulted closely with state leaders, consumer advocates, employers and insurers.  To finalize the rules, HHS accepted public comment to learn from states, consumers, and other stakeholders on how to improve the rules; HHS adapted the proposals based on feedback from the American people.

Unfortunately, many state lawmakers are hesitant to move forward with creating the exchanges until the Supreme Court has ruled on the ACA’s constitutionality, according to Joy Johnson Wilson, federal affairs counsel and health policy director at the National Conference of State Legislatures.  “It’s fair to say that legislation has kind of slowed,” Johnson Wilson said, noting that many lawmakers are taking a “wait-and-see approach” in anticipation of the high court’s oral arguments this month.  Legislators do not want to make plans that have to be revisited and revised, Johnson Wilson said.

Despite the ambivalence of some states, they will be given great flexibility in setting up the exchanges. The concept is the eligibility for determining the premium tax credit is going to be done by the exchange…but also in the state-based exchange to allow — whether it’s a web-based broker or a small-business broker or agent — to interact with the exchange in an automated way,” Tim Hill, deputy director in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services insurance-regulation office, said.

“Those are all relationships that are regulated on the state level…to determine the fee structure for how agents or brokers can be compensated for bringing business to the exchange,” Hill said.  “That’s something we’re going to leave to the state.”  Hill said allowing third-party companies or brokers access the exchanges will help inform people about the insurance exchanges.  “There are lots of folks out there who can generate interest and marketing…it’s a source of leverage that we want to leverage if the states choose to,” Hill said.

Writing on The Hill’s Healthwatch blog, Julian Pecquet notes that “States will have ‘substantial flexibility’ to operate a key provision of President Obama’s healthcare reform law.  The long-awaited final rules expand states’ ability to craft insurance marketplaces that meet their residents’ needs.  This includes allowing states to structure their health insurance exchange in a variety of ways — for example, as a nonprofit entity established by the state, as an independent public agency or as part of an existing state agency.  The final rules also offer each state more time to set up its exchange.  The law requires states to ‘demonstrate complete readiness’ to guarantee they’ll be operational 12 months later.  If states don’t meet the deadline, a federal exchange will take over.  The final rule, however, allows for ‘conditional approval’ if a state is ‘advanced in its preparation’ by January 1, 2013.  In addition, states that aren’t deemed ready for 2014 can apply to operate their own exchange in 2015 or any subsequent year.  ‘HHS may conditionally approve a state-based exchange upon demonstration that it is likely to be fully operationally ready by October 1, 2013, which provides States with flexibility in meeting exchange development timelines,’ according to the regulation.  ‘HHS will provide additional details in future guidance.’”

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ACA’s Future Unclear As It Celebrates Its 2nd Birthday

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

As the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) celebrates its second birthday, the Obama administration reminded senior citizens – one of the most reliable voter blocs — exactly how much healthcare reform has helped them.  Coverage of the “donut hole” in prescription drug plans saved five million seniors and disabled people $3.2 billion.  According to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), through the first two months of 2012, roughly 103,000 Americans saved $93 million in the donut hole.  “Without the healthcare law, more than 5.1 million seniors would have faced $3.2 billion in higher drug costs,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.  The donut hole is a gap in coverage for prescription drugs under what is called Medicare Part D.  Part D covers 75 percent of the cost of prescription drugs until total medication spending for the patient hits $2,800.  Then the hole opens, and seniors must pay out of pocket until they have spent $4,550.  After that, Medicare pays about 95 percent of drug costs.

The ACA sent all seniors who hit the prescription drug donut hole a one-time $250 check.  In 2011 and 2012, seniors in the donut hole receive a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs.  Additionally seniors covered by traditional Medicare received wellness check-ups and screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes without paying anything out of pocket.  Under the law, the donut hole phases out in 2020.

The seniors’ lobby AARP launched its largest-ever outreach effort with ads and town-hall meetings aimed at defending Medicare and Social Security.  “We’re not leaving it up to chance” that the public hears about the law’s benefits, congressional Seniors Task Force co-chairwoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said.  Democrats, Schakowsky said, have made it a “primary organization effort”…”to tell the truth (about the law) over the next several months.”

Writing in The Hill, Julian Pecquet says that “Democrats see the Ryan budget, which is expected to propose replacing Medicare with subsidies for people to buy insurance, as political gold ahead of the November election.  Republicans for their part will spend the week hammering the law’s ‘broken promises’ — higher premiums, employers dropping coverage and the soaring cost of insurance subsidies when compared to the earlier budget window Democrats highlighted when they were debating the law two years ago.  They’re also arguing that the healthcare law hastens Medicare’s insolvency by removing $500 billion from the program to pay for what they call an unsustainable new entitlements.”

In terms of implementing the law to meet the 2014 deadline, the ACA leaves it up to the states to set up health insurance exchanges.  In states that refuse to do that, HHS has the authority to create a federal exchange as a backup — but it could be stretched thin if it has to cover too many states.  At the moment, a number of states are not making plans and the federal exchange could end up covering as many as 15 to 25 states.

Other states are biding their time depending on the outcome of the Supreme Court case — and the elections — to decide what to do next.  There’s an excellent possibility that many of them won’t be far enough along by January of 2013, when HHS has to either certify the states’ exchanges or prepare to run a federal exchange in those states.  HHS has already extended the deadline for states to apply for the grants that will help them run exchanges.  And it’s taking other steps to help states that won’t be ready in time.  But if a lot of states refuse to create the exchanges –and more time won’t help them — HHS will be forced to act.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that President Obama is looking beyond past battles. “He is focused on a forward agenda right now, and working with Congress and doing the things he can through executive action to grow the economy and create jobs,” Carney said.

Republican leaders, who once accused the president of focusing too much on healthcare and not enough on jobs, now say the White House is moving away from the ACA because of uncertainty over whether or not its individual mandate is constitutional.  In terms of the upcoming Supreme Court oral arguments, Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) said “I think we’ll win in the end.  Now the question is how long is it until the end.  There’s no question that the president’s plan will not work.”

A differing opinion was offered by Democratic Caucus Vice-Chairman Xavier Becerra (D-CA).  “I think as time goes by more and more people are beginning to support the reform because it starts to apply to them.  The more people see what the ACA does, the more they’re going to like it.”

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Income Disparities Impact Healthcare Availability

Monday, April 2nd, 2012

There are limited affordable choices for Americans who do not have health insurance through their jobs, especially for those with low and moderate incomes.  Few are Medicaid-eligible, and locating a plan on the individual market equals paying high premiums.  According to the Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Tracking Survey of U.S. Adults, 2011, nearly 57 percent of adults aged 19 to 64 in families earning less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level ($29,726 for a family of four) were uninsured for a time in 2011 and 41 percent) were uninsured for a year or longer.  In contrast, only 12 percent of adults earning 400 percent of poverty or more ($89,400 for a family of four) were uninsured during the year, with four percent having no healthcare insurance for one year or longer.

The lack of health insurance significantly makes it difficult to get needed healthcare.  Low- and moderate-income adults who were uninsured in 2011 were much less likely to have a regular source of healthcare than those who did have insurance.  Additionally, uninsured low- and moderate-income adults were more likely to cite factors other than medical emergencies as reasons for going to the emergency room.  These included needing a prescription drug or lacking a regular primary-care physician.

The survey also demonstrates how vital Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are in providing health insurance to children in low- and moderate-income families.  More than 63 percent of adults with children under 133 percent of the poverty level and nearly 38 percent with incomes between 133 percent and 249 percent of poverty said that some or all of their children were covered by either program.  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) will expand the ability of Medicaid and CHIP to cover children and families by targeting adults in low- and moderate-income families who are at the greatest risk of lacking health benefits through a job.

When it becomes fully effective in 2014, the ACA will provide near-universal health insurance through a broad expansion of Medicaid, premium tax credits that cap premium contributions as a share of income for people purchasing private health plans through new state insurance exchanges.  Another benefit is new insurance market rules that prevent health insurers from denying coverage or charging people with pre-existing medical conditions higher premiums.

Or, as the Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff puts it, “While the private insurance expansion could get thrown into limbo by the Supreme Court, there’s pretty widespread agreement that, absent full repeal of the bill, health reform’s Medicaid expansion is here to stay.  And that means a wide-reaching expansion of the entitlement program about two years from now.”

According to the Commonwealth Fund’s analysis, as a result of the Affordable Care Act, the majority of the 52 million adults who did not have health insurance in 2010 will gain coverage beginning in 2014.  Millions more will benefit as their ability to afford the price of premiums and out-of-pocket costs improves.

Karen Davis, President of the Commonwealth Fund, said that “The silver lining is that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has already begun to bring relief to families.  Once the new law is fully implemented, we can be confident that no future recession will have the power to strip so many Americans of their health security.”

Amanda Peterson Beadle, writing on the thinkprogress.org website, notes that “The Affordable Care Act has already expanded health insurance to 2.5 million 19-to-25 year-olds, banned lifetime limits on health insurance coverage, created pre-existing condition insurance plans providing health insurance options to those who were often uninsurable, and required insurers to cover preventive care without requiring co-payments.  But the major provisions of the law to be implemented in 2014 will have the biggest effect on narrowing the income divide.”

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$1,000 Toothbrushes and $140 Tylenols: And You’re Footing the Bill

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

As the debate about the future of Medicare heats up, the program’s chief actuary estimates that 15 percent to 30 percent of healthcare expenditures are wasteful. Cindy Holtzman, a consumer advocate with Medical Billing Advocates of America, cited several examples, such as a Florida patient who was charged $140 for a single Tylenol.  A patient in South Carolina paid $1,000 for a toothbrush.  A patient in Georgia who used one bag of IV saline solution was billed for 41 bags for a total of $4,000.  In the case of the Georgia patient, insurance paid the entire claim.  “Usually any kind of bill under $100,000, they (insurance companies) don’t look at the details.  And that’s where something like this can be paid in error,” Holtzman said.  After Holtzman investigated, the bill was fixed, and the insurance company was refunded its money.

Medicare spending exceeded $500 billion in 2010.  As much as $75 billion to $150 billion could be cut without reducing needed services.  A potential cause is that Medicare’s reimbursement procedures do not track the appropriateness of the care provided.  Medicare farms out its claims administration to private local contractors based on how quickly and cheaply they process claims.  These contractors are not given incentives to audit the taxpayer dollars they spend; even if they wanted to, they would need data that is typically not found on the claim form.

Healthcare spending is wasteful across the board, not just in Medicare.  Writing for Politico, Ralph G. Neas, CEO of the National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC), a non-profit, non-partisan organization working to improve America’s healthcare system, says that “Total expenditures on healthcare represented 17 percent of the gross national product in 2010 and are projected to reach 20 percent by the end of this decade.  The federal government already spends more for health care than for defense, Social Security or any other single spending category.  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has emphatically identified rising health costs as the greatest threat to our fiscal future.  It doesn’t have to be this way.  Our current system is devastatingly inefficient.  The United States spends 141 percent more on healthcare than other economically advanced nations.  But our far higher bill is not buying us a healthier population.  Roughly 30 percent to 40 percent of medical and hospital costs can be attributed to waste and inefficiency.  That means, America is on a path to squander $10 trillion over the next decade. That hemorrhage would leave our economy — and our cities, states, small businesses and middle-class families — on life support.  Given our financial condition, preventing this kind of spending and the economic drag it represents should be the kind of urgent national problem that overrides ideological differences and encourages us to find common purpose.”

NEHI, an independent non-profit national network for health innovation, has recommended actions that would reduce wasteful healthcare spending by up to $84 billion. The plan was produced in collaboration with the National Priorities Partnership.  One major area for savings is eliminating emergency department overuse.  More than half of the 120 million annual ED visits can be avoided, representing a $38 billion opportunity for savings.  Medication errors add up to seven million inpatient admission and outpatient visits involving serious but avoidable medication errors, representing a $21 billion opportunity for savings.  Unnecessary hospital readmissions is another area where savings can be achieved.  Seven million people are readmitted to hospitals within 30 days of discharge annually but 836,000 of these cases could be avoided, representing a $25 billion opportunity.

Another study believes that healthcare spending waste is much more widespread.  As much as 50 cents of every dollar spent in healthcare is wasted, according to Pricewaterhouse Cooper’s Research Institute. The organization determined that unnecessary price gouging makes up $1.2 trillion of the $2.2 trillion spent on healthcare nationwide.  “Our best estimate is that for the country as a whole, probably half of what we’re spending on healthcare delivery today is technically waste from a patient’s perspective,” said Dr. Brent James, chief quality officer for Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City.  “There are better ways of doing it.”

The Institute of Medicine (IOM), a division of the non-partisan National Academy of Sciences, reports that “excess costs” – which translates to waste — in the American healthcare system cost $810 billion every year. Their findings?  Overly-high insurance administrative costs absorbed by doctors and hospitals cost $190 billion.  Insurance company inefficiencies cost $20 billion.  Unnecessary services (brand name drugs instead of generics, repetitive tests and procedures, etc.) cost $210 billion.  Too-high prices for doctors and hospitals cost $85 billion.  High drug and device prices cost $20 billion.  Errors and avoidable complications cost $75 billion.  Inefficient delivery of services costs $ 80 billion.  Fraud costs $75 billion.  Missed disease-prevention opportunities cost $55 billion.

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CMS’ Value-Based Purchasing Program Is In the Works

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is formulating a new initiative to reward hospitals for the quality of care they provide to Medicare patients and reduce healthcare costs.  Authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program marks an historic change in how Medicare pays healthcare providers and facilities — for the first time, 3,500 hospitals nationwide will be paid for inpatient acute-care services based on care quality, not just the quantity of the services they provide.

This initiative supports the objectives of the Partnership for Patients, a public-private partnership that will help improve the quality, safety and affordability of health care for all Americans.  The partnership has the potential to save 60,000 lives and up to $35 billion in U.S. healthcare costs over the next three years, including up to $10 billion for Medicare.  Over the next ten years, the Partnership for Patients could reduce costs to Medicare by about $50 billion and result in billions more in Medicaid savings.

“Changing the way we pay hospitals will improve the quality of care for seniors and save money for all of us,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  “Under this initiative, Medicare will reward hospitals that provide high-quality care and keep their patients healthy. It’s an important part of our work to improve the health of our nation and drive down costs.  As hospitals work to improve their performance on these measures, all patients – not just Medicare patients – will benefit.”

The Hospital Value-Based Purchasing initiative is just one part of a broad effort by the Obama Administration to improve the quality of health care for all Americans, using important new tools provided by the ACA.  The Partnership for Patients brings together hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, employers, unions, and state and federal government committed to keeping patients from getting injured or sicker in the health care system and improving transitions between care settings.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is investing up to $1 billion to drive these changes.  Additionally, proposed rules allowing Medicare to pay new Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to improve coordination of patient care are also expected to result in better care and lower costs.

In essence, the program rewards hospitals that perform well on quality measures relating both to clinical process of care and to patient experience of care, or those making improvements in their performance on those measures.  Hospitals that meet performance criteria will receive higher compensation.  The hospital value-based purchasing program, which is expected to become effective in fiscal 2013 for payments for discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2012, would make value-based incentive payments based on how much the hospitals’ performance improves certain quality measures during a baseline timeframe.  The better a hospital’s performance or improvement during the performance period, the higher the hospital’s value-based incentive payment would be, according to CMS.

According to CMS estimates, approximately 50 percent of the facilities participating in this Hospital Inpatient Value-Based Purchasing program will receive a net increase in their Medicare payments.  The other half will see a net decrease.  Neither the increase nor the decrease will exceed one percent in the first year, CMS said.  The better-performing hospitals in the first year have the potential to receive value-based incentive payments totaling as much as two percent of Medicare reimbursement, or a net one percent extra,  CMS sees the program as “the next step in promoting higher quality care for Medicare beneficiaries.”  When the program gets underway, CMS said, the government will reward hospitals on the basis of “actual quality performance,” and not just data.

Jean Moody-Williams, director of the Quality Improvement Group within CMS’ Office of Clinical Standards and Quality, said the Hospital VBP Program is funded by a one percent withholding from participating hospitals’ diagnosis-related group (DRG) payments; hospitals excluded from the program will not have that one percent withheld from their DRG payments.  “The goal of CMS through the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program is to link payments to quality outcomes,” Williams said.  “We really are starting to get away from asking, ‘How much did you do?’ to ‘How well did you do and how was it for the patient?’”

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has serious reservations about the program, noting that “CMS has not met its requirements with respect to certain measures.  This failure will unfairly and adversely impact the hospital field and even undermine the intent of the law, which is to provide opportunities for hospitals to improve their performance.”

According to the AHA, the problem “is exacerbated in the outpatient PPS (prospective payment system) rulemaking cycle because it builds on policies that fail to comply with the law’s requirements.” AHA also expressed concern with how the agency handled the notice and comment process for the hospital VBP program, which “made significant changes to this program in three separate regulations,” and suggested that the agency choose a single regulation in which it will make any future changes to the program.

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