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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:
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.
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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 >>
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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.
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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
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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 >>
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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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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.
Health Affairs, 7500 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814, United States
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