Lindsay Conway on June 29, 2012 |
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Topics: Oncology, Service Lines, Market Trends, Strategy, Health Care Reform, Payer and Regulatory Policy, Accountable Care
Following months of uncertainty about the fate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), yesterday the Supreme Court upheld the health care reform law, including the individual mandate that requires most Americans to purchase health insurance.
However, the Court did elect to limit the federal government’s ability to withhold funds from states for failing to expand Medicaid. It ruled that existing federal Medicaid funds cannot be taken away. As a result, expanding Medicaid eligibility for citizens up to 133% of the federal poverty level is now effectively optional for states. This will likely limit the degree to which the law expands access to health insurance as many states have already indicated they will opt out of the expansion.
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The Supreme Court upholds the ACA: Key takeaways for cancer programs
on April 20, 2010 |
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Topics: Health Care Reform, Market Trends, Strategy
After the health reform legislation was officially signed into law, I put together a quick post outlining the key provisions and the implications for oncology-providers. In that post I didn't weigh in on "so what does this mean?" - that's what I hope to do with this post. We've been tracking what's going on with reform and it's potential implications for cancer providers for some time. When we put together that content it was hard to know for sure how reform would impact oncology because so much was uncertain - we weren't even sure the bill would pass. Now it's possible for us to weigh in with a bit more certainty, but we still must acknowledge that a lot remains up in the air - many of the bill's provisions are backloaded to five years from now (if not longer) and a lot can change. With this post I hope to do two things - one, discuss the big picture of health reform and how it relates to cancer care, two, provide a quick take on implications of key provisions for cancer providers. I won't go into depth on every cancer-related line item, as my previous post covered that, and many are self explanatory. Ultimately, this is too much to cover in one blog post, but I'll begin conversation and we'll keep you updated on what we learn.
Coverage Expansion - A Good Thing for Cancer Providers
The expansion of coverage to the uninsured is good news for cancer providers, particularly for managing bad debt. While the expansion is done largely on the back of Medicaid, low payment is better than no payment. Other good news includes the prohibition of denying patients coverage due to pre-existing conditions, and elimination of benefit caps. Many cancer patients have struggled for years to get their care needs met - this bill goes a long way towards addressing that.
Key Themes of Delivery Reform
First, let's acknowledge that there are not a lot of oncology specific provisions in the reform bill. That said, broadly speaking, when it comes to delivery reform (as opposed to coverage expansion) the key themes of the bill are all things we've been talking about in cancer care for a long time:
- Improve care coordination
- Provide care in accordance with national guidelines
- Ensure all who need care can access it
- Expand access to end of life care and advanced care planning
- Increase use of Health IT
- Increase team based care and provider accountability
Bending the Cost Curve Through Improved Accountability
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Analysis of the Implications of Reform for Oncology Providers
on April 7, 2010 |
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Topics: Health Care Reform, Market Trends, Strategy
On Friday we reported that the new healthcare law had expanded the 340B program to provide discounts on inpatient drugs. A question from a member prompted us to look again at the text of the legislation. We discovered that while the Senate bill did expand discounts to inpatient drugs, the Reconciliation bill repealed that measure. You can see a section by section analysis of the Reconciliation bill here.
Note that the Senate bill's expansion of the program to allow participation by certain children's hospitals, cancer hospitals, CAHs and rural referral centers still stands.
