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A Weekly Health Policy Round Up From Health Affairs            

**January 24, 2021**

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AHEAD OF PRINT

Health Affairs has released six commentaries from the National Academy
of
Medicine's (NAM's) Vital Directions for Health and Health Care
project, which proposes health and health care priorities for the new
Biden administration. The cluster

includes these articles:

* Vital Directions For Health And Health Care: Priorities For 2021

Victor J. Dzau of the National Academy of Medicine and coauthors
identify the overarching theme of this series as "the clear and urgent
obligation for the US to turn its full attention to the growing problem
of health inequities and to the structural racism that perpetuates
[health] disparities."

* Infectious Disease Threats: A Rebound To Resilience

Peter Daszak of Ecohealth Alliance and coauthors review pandemic
preparedness in the US and outline steps to strengthen our ability to
anticipate and respond to future pandemics.

* Optimizing Health And Well-Being For Women And Children

Elena Fuentes-Afflick of the University of California San Francisco and
coauthors draw upon a life-course framework to identify promising
interventions to improve the health of women and children.

* Actualizing Better Health And Health Care For Older Adults

Terry Fulmer of The John A. Hartford Foundation and coauthors identify
six strategies to improve care and quality of life for older adults.

* Transforming Mental Health And Addiction Services

Margarita Alegría of Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General
Hospital, and Mass General Research Institute and coauthors describe new
models of care that focus on mental health and addiction.

* Health Costs And Financing: Challenges And Strategies For A New
Administration

William H. Shrank of Humana and coauthors discuss health costs and
financing priorities to advance health care access, affordability, and
equity.

This initiative was originally established by the NAM in 2016 with the
goal of providing the US presidential administration as well as other
policy makers, opinion leaders, and the public with nonpartisan,
evidence-based analysis of the most compelling opportunities and
priorities in health, health care, and biomedical science. The resulting
2017 publication brought together some 150 policy experts to provide
guidance on 19 priorities. In 2020, the NAM reassessed the priorities
and issues of urgent attention for the next administration; today's
cluster of commentaries is the result of the NAM's recent review.

These articles will also be published in

**Health Affairs'** February issue. The publication of the Vital
Directions series in

**Health Affairs** was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore
Foundation, The John A. Hartford Foundation, the National Academy of
Medicine, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

IN THE JOURNAL

MEDICAID

Medicaid Expansion And Health Services Use For Adults Experiencing
Homelessness In Arkansas

By Jeral Self, Kevin Callison, Anthony Goudie, Kanna Lewis, and Joseph
Thompson

Jeral Self and coauthors examine health care use among an adult
population who identified as homeless in Arkansas after the state
expanded Medicaid. Gaining coverage is associated with initial spikes in
emergency department use and inpatient hospitalizations followed by
steady decreases in the following year to preexpansion utilization
levels or below.
Read More >>

If You Give People Coverage, They Use It

Listen to Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interview Jeral Self,
a researcher at Mathematica and an adjunct faculty member at the Tulane
School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, on how Medicaid expansion
affected health care utilization for adults experiencing homelessness in
Arkansas.

Listen here.

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EYE ON HEALTH REFORM

The Election; The ACA At The Supreme Court

By Katie Keith

Katie Keith outlines the likely legislative priorities for a Biden
administration. She also outlines the possible paths for the Supreme
Court's decision in

**California v. Texas**, a case that challenges the constitutionality of
the Affordable Care Act. Read More >>

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NARRATIVE MATTERS: BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CARE

Out Of Options For Patients With Serious Mental Illness

By Brian Scott Barnett

Brian Scott Barnett relays what it is like for a woman with serious
mental illness to cycle between a state hospital, shelters, nursing
homes, and psychiatric units, with no permanent place to land. Read More
>>

Listen to the podcast here.

REQUEST FOR ABSTRACTS-Perinatal Mental Health

Deadline: February 1, 2021
Preparation and formatting guidelines

Submit abstracts via our online submission form

**Health Affairs** is planning a cluster of papers on perinatal mental
health, to be published in October 2021. We plan to publish
approximately 10 peer-reviewed articles from leading researchers,
scholars, policy analysts, and health care stakeholders.

**Health Affairs** thanks the Zoma Foundation, the Perigee Fund, and the
California Health Care Foundation for their generous support of this
issue. Read More >>

THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG

FOLLOWING THE ACA

Lawsuit Challenges GA's 1332 Waiver, ACA In The Biden Pandemic Plan

By Katie Keith (1/22/21)

On January 14, Planned Parenthood Southeast and the Feminist Women's
Health Center filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's
approval of Georgia's waiver under Section 1332 of the Affordable Care
Act (ACA). This post summarizes that legal challenge as well as parts of
President Biden's recent proposed pandemic relief package that relate
to the ACA and coverage. Read More >>

ACA Round-Up: Enrollment Numbers, MLR Guidance, And 1332 Extension
Requests

By Katie Keith (1/20/21)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released updated
enrollment numbers for HealthCare.gov, revised its guidance on how
insurers should treat risk corridors recovery payments in the medical
loss ratio and rebate calculation, and responded to Colorado and Maine
regarding requests to extend each state's reinsurance waivers under
Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act. Read More >>

COVID-19

Four Steps To Help Achieve COVID-19 Vaccine Adoption: How Health
Professionals Can Embrace Their Role As Messengers

By Adam L. Beckman, Howard P. Forman, and Saad B. Omer (1/22/21)

While large scale messaging and public health campaigns may often be the
domain of public health institutions, health professionals can leverage
their credibility to amplify messages, whether through their offices and
communities, or by engaging with social media and local outlets as many
have already during the pandemic. Read More >>

A Case For More (And More Ethical) COVID-19 Vaccine Trials In Africa

By Okechi Boms, Michelle Korte, and Wafaie Fawzi (1/20/21)

Despite Africa's strong performance in its own battle against
COVID-19, its capacities have been drastically underused in the race
toward a vaccine. As funding continues to circumvent African trial
sites, the consequences are potentially dire. Vaccines need to be tested
for safety and efficacy in the populations among which they will be used
because different people respond differently to vaccines. Read More >>

HEALTH PROFESSIONS EDUCATION

****

Loan Interest Deferment To Improve Access To Medical Education

By Alexander Lupi and Carolina Gomez Grimaldi (1/21/20)

Medical school debt contributes to the lack of diversity in medical
school classes, influences graduates' career choices, and can
exacerbate physician burnout and unwellness. Deferment of interest on
medical school loans until the completion of training is a possible form
of relief from the growing debt burden. Read More >>

SYSTEMS OF CARE

Health Care In 2021: Five Trends To Watch

By Susan DeVore (1/20/21)

History gives us many reasons to doubt predictions. But assuming that we
make great strides in lessening the societal impact of COVID-19 and move
to a new normal, I think we will begin to make some key shifts that will
ultimately improve health care's cost, quality, reliability, and
underlying data infrastructure. Read More >>

HOSPITALS

New Year, New CMS Price Transparency Rule For Hospitals

By Chris Wheeler and Russ Taylor (1/19/21)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) promulgated a new
rule for hospital pricing, effective January 1, 2021, that would require
disclosure of a wide range of hospital prices. This blog post reviews
the history, requirements, and scope of the CMS rule; industry
criticisms of the rule; the lawsuit challenging it; and the prospects
for compliance. While the CMS rule will not single-handedly normalize
health care pricing, it at least promises to make it more transparent.
Read More >>

PAYMENT

Value-Based Purchasing Rule For Medicaid Rx Drugs: Continuing To Shift
From FFS Toward Accountability

By Seema Verma, John Coster, and Jeet Guram (1/19/21)

Drug pricing is a prime candidate for value-based reforms, especially
given the advent of new high-priced but potentially curative medications
ill-suited to fee-for-service financing. The Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services recently finalized changes to Medicaid's Drug Rebate
Program to facilitate and enable more value-based payment arrangements
for drugs. Read More >>

LEGAL & REGULATORY ISSUES

Health And Dental Insurers Subject To Federal Antitrust Laws

****By Katie Keith (1/19/21)

On January 13, 2021, President Trump signed the Competitive Health
Insurance Reform Act of 2020 into law. The new law amends the
McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945, which has long exempted insurers from
federal antitrust laws. Read More >>

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More Seats At The Federal Table For Health Equity

Listen to Leslie Erdelack and Vabren Watts talk about the Biden
inauguration, the new president's picks for an incoming health team, and
what it all means for health equity.

Listen here.

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About Health Affairs

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. Late-breaking content is also found
through healthaffairs.org , Health Affairs Today
, and Health Affairs Sunday
Update .  

Project HOPE is a global health and
humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local
health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has
published Health Affairs since 1981.

Copyright © Project HOPE: The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

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