Anthony Wallace, Author at The Hertel Report

Anthony Wallace

Freelance Writer and student at Arizona State University - Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Master of Mass Communication - Health Journalism

Author's Posts

National News

'Juiced-up' ACA Set to Offer Millions More Americans Affordable Coverage

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,...

National News

Hospitals Not Complying with CMS Price Transparency Rule

Despite impassioned criticism from the hospital industry and a lawsuit from the American Hospital Association, CMS finally implemented its long-delayed hospital transparency rule on January 1, 2021. Multiple reports suggest that now, hospitals' are resisting complying with it. The CMS Rule requires hospitals to “establish,...

Arizona News

Nursing Homes, Homecare, SNFs Look to Pandemic Recovery

Thanks to the vaccine, COVID-19 cases in nursing homes have plummeted by 90%. Now, long-term and post-acute care providers are grappling with how to roll back visitor restrictions and recover from the financial devastation of the pandemic. Last week, CMS updated its guidance for nursing homes, encouraging them to allow indoor,...

National News

Nursing Homes in the Spotlight

Since COVID-19 reached the United States in early 2020, nursing homes have been at the center of the story. As the vaccine alleviates the threat of the virus, skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes are looking for ways to fix the problems the pandemic exposed. According to the latest data reported by Kaiser Family...

CMS Rules

Affordable Care Act Update: Subsidies, Navigator Funding, Special Enrollment Period

The newly installed Biden Administration and the ongoing turbulence of the pandemic have resulted in a flurry of recent changes in the world of the Affordable Care Act—all as an impending Supreme Court decision on its very existence looms in the background. Many Americans lost jobs due to the pandemic, and with them their...

News

Insurer Update: Oscar, Optum, Centene & Molina

As a light emerges at the other end of the pandemic and the stock market surges, insurers and other healthcare companies are looking to a bright future and engaging in a frenzy of capitalistic activity. According to Home Health Care News, Optum—a part of UnitedHealth—this week reportedly purchased Landmark Health, an in-home...

National News

Study: Improving Pediatric Medication Adherence After Discharge

A new study looked to develop new systems aimed at improving caregivers’ understanding of their children’s medications, so they would stick to them better. The recent study, written up in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, followed another from 2019 which found that 70% of caregivers at one New York...

National News

Looking Ahead: U.S. Health Policy - Determinants of Health

In the midst of a catastrophic pandemic and the start of a new presidential administration, there is both urgency and optimism in those looking to the future of healthcare in America. This week, two major reports were published highlighting how the country can and should improve American's health in the coming months and...

Arizona News

Pandemic Exacerbates Children's Mental Health Crisis

The pandemic’s adverse effect on mental health has been well documented and much discussed. But the strain on children, who have been deprived of in-person school and interactions with friends, has been especially worrisome. The last nine months have been especially difficult for kids with existing mental health issues, as...

Arizona News

Direct Contracting Entity Apricus Health Network Launches in Arizona

The Apricus Health Network, an Arizona-based Direct Contracting Entity (DCE), is busy signing up providers and offering patients continuous care augmented by health monitoring technology and telemedicine. Direct Contracting is a set of new payment models that are designed to allow organizations to take on more risk, and to save...

National News

New Study: Hospital Price Discrimination Drives Racial Health Disparities

COVID-19 has shined a bright light on so many problems in America, one of them is racial disparities in healthcare. One root cause of that, according to new research, may be price discrimination: the discrepancy between hospital payments from public and private health plans. New research from the New England Journal of Medicine...

National News

CMS's 2019 Health Spending Report Shows Steady Growth

As a year that upended healthcare comes to close, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) has published insights into how health spending in 2019 differed from the year prior, shedding light on trends that may factor into the industry’s pandemic recovery. The report, published in HealthAffairs, showed that last...

National News

Concentrated Hospital Markets Get Scrutiny - 2020 A Busy Year for Antirust Enforcement

Buried underneath 2020’s endless barrage of stories about overwhelmed and under-protected healthcare workers, government relief packages, and shortages of critical supplies, was a flurry of effort to address an issue much older and more persistent than the pandemic -- the increasing concentration of the hospital market. Over...

National News

MedPAC eyes 2022 Pay Models

Last week, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) met to present its draft recommendations for 2022 payment rules. Their implication: hospitals, physicians, hospices, outpatient dialysis centers, and ambulatory surgery centers will be just fine financially less than two years after the onset of the pandemic. According to...

National News

Hospital Report: Margins Take Big Hit During COVID

Amid a pandemic that has caused people to avoid the hospital, health systems and hospitals are suffering financially. According to a Kaufman Hall report released this week, hospital operating margins have declined by 18.7% since the start of this year to the end of October. The poor margins are driven by declining patient...

Arizona News

CMS Rules, Pandemic Send MA Supplemental Benefits Soaring

In 2018 and 2019, CMS paved the way for supplemental benefits in MA plans by granting more flexibility for insurers. They have taken advantage. A recent analysis from Milliman found that the number of Medicare Advantage plans across the country that offered at least one supplemental benefit increased by 64% from 2020 to 2021....

National News

Telehealth Takeover: Trends & Physician Challenges

Telehealth was a natural solution for a pandemic that made person to person contact risky. Now, as a light emerges at the end of the tunnel, experts look toward the future of virtual medicine. One national telemedicine platform, CallOnDoc, told Forbes that they are seeing people use the platform for chronic conditions. In...

Arizona News

Banner Health’s Podcast Wins the Gold

And the Modern Healthcare, Healthcare Marketing Impact Award goes to….Banner Health! The judges at Modern Healthcare named “Bedside Stories” -- Banner Health’s podcast about captivating personal experiences in healthcare -- “Audio Campaign of the Year” in the provider/insurer category. It earned the highest “gold”...

Arizona News

Healthcare: Trump vs. Biden

As the highly anticipated presidential election fast approaches, the campaigns are working overtime to tout their contrasting positions on a variety of important healthcare issues. As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise across the country, no topic is more pressing than the pandemic. According to an NPR analysis relying on...

Arizona News

AMA Study: Health Insurance Competition Declining in US Markets

Last week, the American Medical Association released the 19th iteration of its recurring report on health insurance in the U.S., revealing dwindling competition among insurers across the country. The report found that 74% of American health care markets are highly concentrated, meaning they are largely dominated by a small...

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