In their new Forefront article, Stacey Pogue and Nadia Stovicek from Georgetown University argue that, while there is some movement toward improved health care provider ownership transparency at the federal level and in some states, more attention is warranted given increasingly complex and obscured provider ownership structures and the impact they can have on health care prices, access, and quality. "As explained in a previous Health Affairs Forefront article, the nature of ownership or control of doctors’ practices, hospitals, and other providers can have profound effects on price, use, quality, and access to care, yet it can be hard or impossible to know which entities own or control a health care provider. A web of complex corporate structures among interrelated entities can obscure ownership or controlling interests. Existing Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data sources on hospital and nursing home ownership and control have gaps, although recent CMS efforts will increase information on nursing homes. In addition, there is no complete, publicly available data source with ownership information for physician practices." Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/3ylpYZ5
Health Affairs
Book and Periodical Publishing
Washington, District of Columbia 22,496 followers
Since 1981, Health Affairs has been the leading journal of health policy thought and research.
About us
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal at the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Its mission is to serve as a high-level, nonpartisan forum to promote analysis and discussion on improving health and health care, and to address such issues as cost, quality, and access. The journal reaches a broad audience that includes: government and health industry leaders; health care advocates; scholars of health, health care and health policy; and others concerned with health and health care issues in the United States and worldwide. Health Affairs offers a variety of content, including: Health Affairs Journal Health Affairs Forefront (Formerly Health Affairs Blog) Health Policy Briefs Podcasts Events More information can be found here: https://www.healthaffairs.org/about
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http://www.healthaffairs.org
External link for Health Affairs
- Industry
- Book and Periodical Publishing
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- 51-200 employees
- Headquarters
- Washington, District of Columbia
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- Nonprofit
- Founded
- 1981
Locations
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Primary
1220 19th St NW
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Employees at Health Affairs
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Emily Zeigenfuse
Sr. Director, Marketing and Digital
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Kathryn Phillips
Professor & Founder UCSF Center for Translational & Policy Research on Precision Medicine at UCSF; Editor-in-Chief Health Affairs Scholar
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Sue Ducat
Senior Communications Director at Health Affairs
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Julia Nalitz Vivalo
Design Director at Health Affairs
Updates
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Following the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency and Medicaid continuous coverage, many states have routed people who have lost Medicaid benefits to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace. In the July issue of Health Affairs, Mark Meiselbach and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University explore county-level overlap in carriers and networks in Medicaid managed care and the Marketplace in 2021. They find significant variation in “the share of Medicaid managed care beneficiaries covered by carriers that offered ACA individual Marketplace plans in their county in 2021.” Also, on average, 52.1 percent of Medicaid managed care enrollees were enrolled by a carrier that also had a plan on the Marketplace in the same county.” Read the full paper: https://bit.ly/3Sw0LlA
Overlap In Carriers And Networks In Medicaid And The Individual Marketplaces | Health Affairs Journal
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In their new Forefront article, A. Alex Levine, Stacey Kowal, and James D. Chambers from Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR) and Genentech discuss how a workable and person-centered definition of “unmet medical need” within the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program is crucial to anchoring treatment access and innovation to beneficiary need, increasing transparency for stakeholders, and prioritizing limited health care resources. "Beyond its impact on Medicare beneficiaries, how CMS defines UMN may serve as a guidepost for how state Prescription Drug Affordability Boards consider UMN when setting upper pricing limits for selected drugs. As these limits would apply to Medicaid and some commercially insured beneficiaries, there is a potential ripple effect for CMS’s core definition of UMN to impact pricing, coverage, and access for even more Americans." Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/3YnyO3d
Improving How CMS Defines “Unmet Medical Need” Under The IRA | Health Affairs Forefront
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Nursing home residents were particularly vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to living in congregate settings, residents are commonly of advanced age and possess underlying health conditions. In the July issue of Health Affairs, R. Tamara Konetzka of the University of Chicago and coauthors examine lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic in US nursing homes. They conduct a review of COVID-19 mitigation policies within nursing homes. The researchers examine infection control policies, financial and in-kind assistance from the federal government, visitor bans, vaccination efforts, and staffing policies. They conclude that even the highest-quality nursing homes had difficulty containing outbreaks, indicating that COVID-19 revealed systemic problems within US nursing homes. Read the full paper: https://bit.ly/3zZ6ABr
Four Years And More Than 200,000 Deaths Later: Lessons Learned From The COVID-19 Pandemic In US Nursing Homes | Health Affairs Journal
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In their new Forefront article, Rajaie Batniji, Sanjay Basu, and Sadiq Y. Patel from Waymark argue that persistent data quality issues and insufficient integration of clinical and social risk factor data have contributed to the growth of value veneers by limiting the ability of Medicaid programs to proactively identify and deliver targeted interventions to at-risk patients. "In recent years, there has been a growing focus on shifting to value-based care (VBC) models in Medicaid, such as accountable care organizations (ACOs), which aim to incentivize providers to deliver higher-quality, more cost-effective care. However, as we’ve previously written about, many of these models nominally pass as VBC (through modest shared savings arrangements or performance bonuses) but do not meaningfully change care delivery to improve access, quality of care, or outcomes for patients. We call these payment structures “value veneers.”" Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/4fm2svv
From Veneers To Value: Data Science Can Enable High-Value Care In Medicaid | Health Affairs Forefront
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In her new book review for Health Affairs Reads, Marianne Amoss, the Associate Editor for Health Affairs, reviews "Your Money or Your Life" by Luke Messac, which she calls a "concise yet comprehensive look at the rise in medical debt and in the increasingly aggressive collection of that medical debt over the past four decades—and the impact this has had on Americans." "About a hundred million of us carry medical debt. Messac, who now practices at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, cites a 2021 study that found the average person owed $429 in medical debt, more than any other kind of debt combined. And, he points out, much of that debt is carried by more vulnerable people—among them Black and Hispanic Americans, those who have a disability, those who live in non-Medicaid-expansion states, and women. He writes, “Like other hardships in American life, [medical debt and aggressive collection] rises as one moves further down the steep gradient of historically determined inequality.”" Read the full #HAReads review here: https://bit.ly/3S7mv6V
When Hospitals Hire Debt Collectors | Health Affairs Forefront
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On Health Affairs This Week, Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Deputy Editor Rob Lott to the program to discuss a recent policy proposal that would result in prohibiting medical debt from being included in credit reporting and how the upcoming presidential election could play into the policy's implementation.
Podcast: The Plan to Remove Medical Debt From Credit Reports | Health Affairs Podcast
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In their new Forefront article, Chethan Bachireddy, Ashley Harrell, and Andrew Barnes from Harris Health System, MEDICAL ASSISTANCE SERVICES, VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF, and Virginia Commonwealth University discuss how the multi-year effort Virginia Medicaid took to increase MOUD access by almost 600 percent required concerted and collaborative effort across agencies, sectors, and stakeholders. "Notably, Medicaid—which covers almost 40 percent of all those with opioid use disorder (OUD) —has the potential to improve access to effective addiction treatment through thoughtful policies that expand coverage, increase provider willingness to offer services, and facilitate high-quality patient-provider interactions." Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/3A7H2lF
How Virginia Reformed Medicaid To Accelerate Access To Addiction Treatment | Health Affairs Forefront
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CMS National Health Expenditure Projections Jacqueline Fiore and colleagues at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services document national health expenditure data for 2023-32. Among other findings, the report projects that health spending growth is expected to outpace gross domestic product growth, resulting in a health share of GDP that reaches 19.7 percent. National health expenditures are also expected to grow 7.5 percent in 2023, and in 2024, Medicaid enrollment is projected to decline significantly, while private health insurance enrollment is projected to increase. The Inflation Reduction Act is expected to reduce beneficiary cost sharing. Read the full article: https://bit.ly/3Y9UAXR
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We are launching a new Forefront Series, “Supplemental Benefits in Medicare Advantage.” We are seeking article submissions, which will be considered on a rolling basis until June 30, 2025. To learn more, read the Call for Article Submissions page now. https://hubs.ly/Q02HS3sD0