Policy Updates

ACA Has Reduced Insurance Disparities

The Affordable Care Act is responsible for a major reduction in the disparity of insurance status among racial and ethnic minorities. According to a new Commonwealth Fund analysis, All U.S. racial and ethnic groups saw comparable, proportionate declines in uninsured rates… However, because uninsured rates started off much higher among Hispanic and black non-Hispanic adults than among white non-Hispanic adults, the coverage gap between blacks and whites declined from 11.0 percentage points in 2013 to 5.3 percentage points in 2017. Likewise, the coverage gap between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites dropped from 25.4 points to 16.6 points. Learn more about specific [...]

iqtsupport2019-08-23T11:40:37-04:00August 23, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Uninsured Rate Rose in 2017

The rate of uninsured Americans rose in 2017, the first such increase since implementation of the Affordable Care Act. According to a new Urban Institute study, The increasing uninsurance rate between 2016 and 2017 was driven by losses of private nongroup coverage, such as that purchased in the health insurance marketplaces, and decreases in Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage (-0.4 percentage points each). In addition, Overall, coverage losses were concentrated in the 19 states that did not expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act by July 1, 2017…Between 2016 and 2017, uninsurance held stable in Medicaid [...]

iqtsupport2019-08-21T10:58:26-04:00August 21, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Medicaid Rolls Could Include Too Many People in Some States

Some states appear to have more Medicaid participants than they do individuals who meet the program’s income eligibility requirements. Or so suggests a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research. According to the study, an analysis of nine states that expanded their Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act found 800,000 more Medicaid participants than it did individuals who meet Medicaid’s income eligibility criteria. The study acknowledges that the actual numbers may not be as great because some people qualify for Medicaid based on disabilities and factors other than income. Learn more in the National Bureau of Economic [...]

iqtsupport2019-08-19T11:39:18-04:00August 19, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Stakeholders Respond to CMS “Patients Over Paperwork” RFI

More than 400 stakeholders responded to the federal government’s request for ideas to reduce the administrative burden associated with serving publicly insured patients. The request was disseminated via a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services request for information that was part of the agency’s “Patients over Paperwork” initiative. Among the groups that responded were the American Hospital Association, The American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the Critical Access Hospital Coalition, the Coalition of Long-Term Acute-Care Hospitals, the National Rural Association of Rural Health Clinics, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Hospital Association, and [...]

iqtsupport2019-08-16T10:27:17-04:00August 16, 2019|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid regulations, Medicare regulations|

Surprise Medical Billing Problem Growing Worse

Insured patients are getting more surprise medical bills, and more expensive surprise medical bills, even as Congress attempts to tackle this problem. According to a new study, 42.8 percent of emergency department patients now receive surprise medical bills for out-of-network services, up from 32.3 percent in 2010, with those surprise bills rising from a mean of $220 in 2010 to $628 in 2016. Patients experience similar frustrations with inpatient visits, with surprise bills for out-of-network services arriving in the mailboxes of 42 percent of patients in 2016, up from 26.3 percent in 2010. Those surprise bills rose from a mean [...]

iqtsupport2019-08-15T10:06:29-04:00August 15, 2019|Uncategorized|

New Public Charge Rule Could Affect Immigrants, Providers

Legal immigrants may become reluctant to seek government-sponsored health care and providers may find themselves delivering more uncompensated care in the wake of the adoption of a new federal “public charge” regulation that seeks to define more narrowly the kinds of individuals who should be granted entry to the U.S. in the future. The new Department of Homeland Security regulation, while focused on applicants for entry into the U.S., could have the unintended effect of discouraging legal immigrants from enrolling in Medicaid, CHIP, and other government programs and even lead them to disenroll from such programs out of a mistaken [...]

iqtsupport2019-08-14T09:26:39-04:00August 14, 2019|Uncategorized|

Can Medicare Feed its Way Out of Some Readmissions?

Feeding some Medicare patients after they are discharged from the hospital could reduce readmissions and save taxpayers millions, a new study has concluded. According to the new Bipartisan Policy Center report Next Steps in Chronic Care: Expanding Innovative Medicare Benefits, providing a limited number of free meals to certain Medicare patients could eliminate nearly 10,000 readmissions a year and save more than $57 million. Participating patients would be those with more than one of a limited number of chronic medical conditions and the meals would be for one week only. According to the report, more than 575,000 Medicare beneficiaries would [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-31T06:00:03-04:00July 31, 2019|Medicare|

Update Patient Satisfaction Survey, Hospital Groups Suggest

The survey that asks patients about their satisfaction with their hospital experience should be revised, several hospital groups have declared. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey has become outdated and needs revision, according to the Federation of American Hospitals, the American Hospital Association, America’s Essential Hospitals, the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the Catholic Health Association of America. According to the hospital groups, the 32-question HCAHPS survey needs to be updated to address more effectively matters involving value-based care, health care technology, patient priorities, and post-discharge transitional care. The groups also called for the survey [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-30T06:00:39-04:00July 30, 2019|Uncategorized|

New Bill Would Address Social Determinants of Health

The federal government would provide funding to help address social determinants of health within Medicaid populations under a new bill introduced in the House of Representatives last week. According to a legislative summary prepared by one of the bipartisan bill’s sponsors, Economic and social conditions have a powerful impact on our health and wellness. Stable housing, reliable transportation and access to healthy foods are all factors that can make a difference in the prevention and management of many health conditions like diabetes, asthma and heart disease. Known as social determinants of health, a focus on these non-medical factors can improve [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-29T06:00:11-04:00July 29, 2019|Congress|

Governors Look at Surprise Medical Bills

While action on surprise medical bills may be slow in coming at the federal level, many states have introduced measures to address this challenge and others are exploring possible actions. Since 2017, 11 states have introduced surprise medical bill laws, six of them doing so this year alone. Surprise billing is an issue of importance to the nation’s governors, and their professional group, the National Governors Association, has prepared a report outlining the key issues they must address when attempting to craft surprise billing policies. Learn more about what governors view as the key considerations in developing such policies in [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-26T09:57:52-04:00July 26, 2019|Uncategorized|