Affordable Care Act

No Medicaid Expansion=Greater Peril for Rural Hospitals

Rural hospitals located in states that did not expand their Medicaid programs, as authorized by the Affordable Care Act, are at much greater risk of closing than hospitals in states that did expand their Medicaid programs. According to a Stateline report, most of the 100 rural hospitals that have closed since 2010 and most of the more than 600 rural hospitals that are considered to be in danger of closing now are located in states like Texas, Mississippi, and 12 others that have not expanded their Medicaid programs. Small rural hospitals that have not closed serve large proportions of uninsured [...]

iqtsupport2019-01-28T06:00:27-05:00January 28, 2019|Affordable Care Act, hospitals, Medicaid|

CMS Introduces New Waivers

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has introduced four new “state relief and empowerment waivers” that are widely viewed as new vehicles for states to circumvent Affordable Care Act requirements to implement their own new approaches to health care. Through “account-based subsidies” waivers, states may direct public subsidies into defined-contribution, consumer-directed accounts that individuals use to pay for health insurance premiums or other health care expenses. “State-specific premium assistance” waivers enable states to create their own subsidy programs. “Adjusted plan options” authorizes states to provide financial assistance for different types of health insurance plans, including short-term and other health [...]

iqtsupport2018-12-03T06:00:13-05:00December 3, 2018|Affordable Care Act, health care reform|

Pay Raise Didn’t Lead More Docs to Participate in Medicaid

The temporary rate increase that the Affordable Care Act provided as means of encouraging more doctors to serve Medicaid patients did not work, according to two new studies published in the journal Health Affairs. According to the studies, the increase in the number of physicians who decided to begin serving Medicaid patients as a result of the fee increase was negligible. Among the reasons the studies’ authors offer for the lack of growth in the participation of doctors are the limited nature of the pay raise and the documentation required to receive it. Despite this, the authors note, access to [...]

iqtsupport2018-07-23T06:00:18-04:00July 23, 2018|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Verdict: Medicaid Expansion Improved Care and Access

A new review of studies published since the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion has concluded that expansion improved care, access to care, and coverage in states that expanded their Medicaid programs. Among the improvements cited by studies are: greater use of primary care more preventive health visits more behavioral health care shorter hospital stays fewer avoidable hospital admissions reduced access problems reduced reliance on hospital ERs as a primary source of care improved monitoring and compliance rates for patients with diabetes and hypertension higher rates of screening for prostate cancer and Pap smears In addition, hospitals provided less uncompensated care [...]

iqtsupport2018-06-11T06:00:05-04:00June 11, 2018|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

ACA Has Increased Primary Care Utilization

A new study found that the increase in the number of insured Americans as a result of the Affordable Care Act has resulted in increased utilization of primary health care services. According to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, primary care utilization rose 3.8 percent, mammograms 1.5 percent, HIV tests 2.1 percent, and flu shots 1.9 percent over a three-year period. The study suggests that preventive care increased between 17 and 50 percent. The study attributes all of the gains to improved access to private insurance and none to Medicaid expansion. These results are based on self-reported [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-19T06:00:03-04:00April 19, 2018|Affordable Care Act|

Study Looks at Medicaid and Managed Care

A new Commonwealth Fund study examines how managed care plans have tackled serving new members in Affordable Care Act-authorized Medicaid expansion states. According to the report, these managed care organizations have …focused on identifying and helping high-risk populations and addressing the social determinants of health. MCOs are testing value-based payment strategies that link payment with performance and are increasingly focused on engaging patients in their care. Leaders report common challenges: setting appropriate payment rates; managing members whose needs differ from traditional Medicaid beneficiaries; ensuring access to specialty care; and effectively implementing payment reform and practice transformation. Learn more about how [...]

iqtsupport2018-03-13T06:00:58-04:00March 13, 2018|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Medicaid managed care|

ACA Improves Access to Surgical Services

The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion has improved access to surgical services for Medicaid patients. Or so says a new study published in JAMA Surgery, which reports that In this study of patients with 1 of 5 common surgical conditions, Medicaid expansion was associated with a 7.5–percentage point increase in insurance coverage at the time of hospital admission. The policy was also associated with patients obtaining care earlier in their disease course and with an increased probability of receiving optimal care for those conditions. As a result, the study found, The ACA’s Medicaid expansion was associated with increased insurance coverage [...]

iqtsupport2018-01-29T06:00:37-05:00January 29, 2018|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Medicaid Expansion Helps Save Hospitals

Hospitals in states that took advantage of the Affordable Care Act to expand their Medicaid programs are six times less likely to close than hospitals in non-expansion states. And the impact of Medicaid expansion is even more beneficial for hospitals that serve rural communities. These are among the new findings in a new study that examines the effect of Medicaid expansion on hospital finances and hospital closures. Among those findings, We found that the ACA’s Medicaid expansion was associated with improved hospital financial performance and substantially lower likelihoods of closure, especially in rural markets and counties with large numbers of [...]

iqtsupport2018-01-10T06:00:57-05:00January 10, 2018|Affordable Care Act, hospitals, Medicaid|

CMS Takes First Steps Toward Medicaid DSH Cuts

Federal funds allocated to states to make Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments (Medicaid DSH) payments would be reduced beginning in FY 2018 under a new rule proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Medicaid DSH cuts, mandated by the Affordable Care Act but delayed several times at the behest of Congress, would come in the form of reduced Medicaid DSH allocations to individual states, with the size of those allocation cuts based on the nature of individual states’ Medicaid programs and changes in the number of uninsured patients in individual states. The cuts were established in the [...]

iqtsupport2017-07-31T06:00:34-04:00July 31, 2017|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, hospitals, Medicaid|

Budget Reconciliation Explained

Congress may use the federal budget reconciliation process to repeal some aspects of the Affordable Care Act. But what is the budget reconciliation process and how does it work? Kaiser Health News has created a brief video, with an accompanying transcript, that explains. Find that video here.

iqtsupport2017-02-10T09:07:01-05:00February 10, 2017|Affordable Care Act|