On Monday, a letter from more than 200 Arizona women leaders was sent to Governor Doug Ducey advocating against Senator Nancy Barto's (R-Phoenix) Senate Bill 1457. The bill would make it a class 6 felony to perform an abortion based on a genetic...
Value-based insurance design models, accountable care organizations and the Direct Contracting model are all seeing updates and changes in a hectic first quarter for the Biden Administration.
Overall, healthcare organizations that join risk-based contracting and care delivery models are having a difficult time integrating and tracking...
Under the American Rescue Plan (ARP), Medicaid expansion and 12-month continuous eligibility for pregnant and postpartum women will play an important role in ensuring continuity of care and aid in combatting disparities in maternal mortality rates.
During the pandemic, pregnant women and new mothers have had to navigate virtual...
We are in the midst of an Affordable Care Act Special Enrollment Period (SEP), which began Feb. 15 and will run through Aug. 15. According to a new CMS report, as of Mar. 31, over 500,000 Americans enrolled in health insurance during the SEP. For context, in the same period of 2019 and 2020, 209,000 and 171,000 people signed up for...National News
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) looked at the impact of COVID-19 on Medicare beneficiaries with dementia and found that people disproportionately affected by dementia, including older adults, people of color and nursing home residents, were also...National News
Medicare Advantage market penetration remains strong with abundant room for growth according to analysis of the Open Enrollment Period for Medicare Advantage (MA) and prescription drug plans (PDPs). As of March 1 of this year, total MA membership stands at 27,158,911 with 2,408,192 new members gained year-over-year from...Health Related Groups
This week Molina Healthcare announced that its Ohio health plan subsidiary has been selected as an awardee in all three regions across the state pursuant to the Medicaid managed care RFA issued on September 30, 2020, by the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM).
Molina Healthcare, Inc., a FORTUNE 500 company, provides managed healthcare...Arizona News
onehome, a leader in post-acute home-based care, is partnering with Devoted Health, one of the fastest-growing Medicare Advantage companies in the United States, to expand care to Devoted Health's members in Arizona, Ohio and San Antonio in Texas.
The partnership brings enhanced care into members' homes, enabling them to receive...Arizona News
The Biden administration has officially blocked work requirements. Last Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sent an official letter to Wisconsin state health officials withdrawing approval for work requirements for the Wisconsin Medicaid program, BadgerCare.
According to NBC26 Green Bay, Acting CMS...Arizona News
Last week Frances Jones, 52, of Chandler, Arizona, was sentenced to 36 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge John C. Hinderaker. Jones previously pleaded guilty to health care fraud.
Jones, a licensed Medicare provider of durable medical equipment and the owner and operator of Oxicheck Northwest, admitted that she...Colorado Resources
The Ensign Group Inc., the parent company of the EnsignTM group of companies, which provide skilled nursing and assisted living services, physical, occupational and speech therapies and other rehabilitative and healthcare services, has acquired the operations of three skilled nursing facilities in Colorado:
Boulder Canyon Health and...Arizona News
Valleywise Health is piloting innovative healthcare technology developed by local startup, LiteraSeed, to reduce medical misdiagnoses by improving communication between underserved patients and medical providers.
The web‐enabled, smartphone-based LiteraSeed platform empowers patients with a visual guide to help them describe...National News
President Biden’s first COVID-19 relief bill, also known as the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), significantly expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies, making more Americans eligible for free or low cost health insurance.
According to Vox, nearly 7 million Americans can now get ACA plan coverage for no cost, while an additional...Arizona News
AHCCCS seeks waiver and expenditure authority from CMS on two waiver demonstration projects.
The AHCCCS Housing and Health Opportunities (H2O) demonstration wants to improve and expand housing services and interventions for AHCCCS members who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
With this waiver approval, AHCCCS will work...Arizona News
There were 750 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Arizona on April 7, bringing the total to 846,230. More than 17,023 people have died of COVID-19 in Arizona, with Wednesday's total new deaths at 27. Those deaths will be reassigned to the days on which the deaths took place. 9% of intensive care unit beds are still in use by COVID-19...
26.6% of Arizonans -- 3.8 million -- have received at least one vaccine dose as of Wednesday, April 7. The state has used 80% of the 4.8 million doses delivered. These follow national numbers, as 26% of the population has been vaccinated and 77% of delivered shots have been used.
This information comes from the Bloomberg COVID-19...
Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment has continued to climb consistently year-over-year and 2021 is no different. Nationally, 42% of Medicare eligible beneficiaries are currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, which is up from 32% five years ago.
The Chartis Group released a report on key trends regarding national MA enrollment,...National News
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted to recommend Congress create a new value incentive program to reward skilled nursing facilities for good performance. MedPAC also approved a recommendation for Congress to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to develop and begin to report patient experience measures for...
On Monday, Governor Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1377, which provides protections for businesses, including long-term care providers, against civil lawsuits regarding the spread of COVID-19. Dave Voepel, CEO of the Arizona Health Care Association, spoke to McKnight's Long Term Care about the new law:
Without this legislation, frivolous...CMS Rules
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) agreed that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must put together a consolidated group of alternative payment models in order to improve demonstrations.
From the commission's recommendation:
The Secretary should implement a more harmonized portfolio of fewer spending...Arizona News
This week Banner Alzheimer’s Institute received a grant expected to total $27.5 million over five years from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, to further investigate biological and cognitive changes preceding the onset of memory and thinking problems in people at different levels of genetic...CMS Rules
This week, the Supreme Court suspended hearings on Medicaid work requirements as other Trump era Medicaid policies come under fire. Plus, states aren't quite meeting reporting requirements and more reporting adjustments could be on the way.
The U.S. Supreme Court suspended its review of the Medicaid work requirements and removed the...National News
Millions of Americans will temporarily have access to health insurance coverage at a lower cost due to the first wide-ranging expansion of the Affordable Care Act. The subsidies for health insurance are part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that was signed into law by President Joe Biden on...
Health inequities result from circumstances stemming from socioeconomic status, living conditions and other social, geographical and environmental determinants that are modifiable.
These actions have been made even more urgent by the disparities identified early in the COVID-19 pandemic as data show significant variances in the rate...
The U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services Office of Inspector General conducted a review of 320 hospitals nationwide. The review is designed to provide a national perspective from front-line hospital administrators on how responding to the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their capacity to care for patients, staff and communities....
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