View Message in Browser

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

mailto:[email protected]

[link removed]

A Weekly Health Policy Round Up From Health Affairs            

**October 27, 2019**

HEALTH AFFAIRS EVENTS

CULTURE OF HEALTH: HOUSING AND HEALTH

Registration Now Open!
November 7 at 9:00 am - 11:00 am Eastern
W Hotel Washington - 515 15th Street NW, Washington DC
Register Today

Since 2015, Health Affairs has published important work related to a
"Culture of Health." The November 7 briefing will highlight the
relationship between housing and health by featuring panels of
contributing authors and practitioners who are meeting the challenges.
Join this robust discussion on how community and place play an important
role in promoting health and preventing disease. View Speakers

Getevent-specific emails
delivered directly to your inbox.

THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG

FOLLOWING THE ACA

Latest Ruling Over Unpaid CSRs

By Katie Keith (10/25/19)

On October 22, 2019, Judge Margaret M. Sweeney issued a final decision
in a class action lawsuit brought by insurers over unpaid cost-sharing
reduction (CSR) payments.
Read More >>

Ninth Circuit Blocks Trump Contraceptive Rules

By Katie Keith (10/24/19)

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
upheld, by a 2-1 majority, a preliminary injunction against two
Trump-era rules to dramatically expand exemptions to the Affordable Care
Act's contraceptive mandate based on religious or moral objections.
Read More >>

Open Enrollment Period Is Coming: New Premium Data From CMS

By Katie Keith (10/22/19)

Average premium reductions and higher insurer participation for 2020 are
encouraging heading into open enrollment. However, some metrics still
lag behind earlier years. Also, modest premium reductions may not be
enough to reverse recently rising uninsurance rates.
Read More >>

MEDICARE

Medicare ACO Results for 2018: More Downside Risk Adoption, More
Savings, and All ACOs Types Now Averaging Savings

By Jonathan Gonzalez-Smith, William K. Bleser, David B. Muhlestein,
Robert Richards, Mark B. McClellan, and Robert S. Saunders (10/25/19)

In late September 2019, CMS released the performance results for the
sixth year (2018) of Medicare's flagship ACO program, the Medicare
Shared Savings Program (MSSP). We have tracked the progress of this
program, which has generally shown good quality of care and outcomes,
and modest but increasing cost savings over time, relative to CMS
benchmarks. Read More >>

WORKFORCE IN THE COMMUNITY

Building The Community-Based Mental Health Workforce To Expand Access To
Treatment

By Heather O'Donnell, Kristin Davis, and Samantha Mestan (10/24/19)

We hope policy makers will take action to support and implement these
recommendations to grow the community-based mental health treatment
workforce, and thereby improve access to treatment.Read More >>

PHARMACEUTICALS & MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

The Emerging Use By Commercial Payers Of Third-Party Lab Benefit
Managers For Genetic Testing

By Kathryn A. Phillips and Patricia A. Deverka (10/23/19)

Commercial payers are increasingly using laboratory benefit managers to
manage laboratory test utilization. LBMs represent a relatively newer
area of utilization management, although they are similar in some ways
to pharmacy benefit managers, used to manage prescription drug benefits.
Read More >>

ACCOUNTABLE CARE

Spread Of ACOs And Value-Based Payment Models In 2019: Gauging The
Impact Of Pathways To Success

By David Muhlestein, William Bleser, Robert Saunders, Robert Richards,
Elizabeth Singletary, and Mark McClellan (10/21/19)

This blog post summarizes the recently released enrollment data for
Medicare ACOs and updates some of our previous work on tracking all ACOs
(commercial and Medicaid ACOs included) and participation or potential
participation in other value-based payment models.
Read More >>

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

The Peril Of Medicare For All

By Bobby Clark (10/22/19)

We must do everything in our power to avoid a divisive battle over
Medicare for All, when more incremental, evidence-based reforms could be
implemented far more easily while achieving the same outcomes. We need
not upend the entire health system for every American, as some suggest,
to improve the quality, access, and affordability of health care in this
country.
Read More >>

MENTAL HEALTH

Why We Are Building A Community Of "Emotional Support Humans"

By Nikki Highsmith Vernick (10/24/19)

You may have heard the phrases "emotional support animals" or even
"emotional support humans." A foundation has created a different kind of
mental health campaign. It urges family members and friends to become
emotional support humans who provide comfort and compassion to their
loved ones struggling with mental illness, especially depression and
anxiety. And no special certification or training is needed to do this.
Read More >>

ELSEWHERE @ HEALTH AFFAIRS

Seeking Policy Narratives About The Impact Of The Affordable Care Act

By Jessica Bylander (10/25/19)

If you have a policy narrative or a compelling idea for one on this
topic, please contact [email protected] by November 1
to discuss your story. Read More >>

[link removed]

IN THE JOURNAL

VIOLENCE

Mitigating Negative Consequences Of Community Violence Exposure:
Perspectives From African American Youth

By Briana Woods-Jaeger, Jannette Berkley-Patton, Kaitlin N. Piper, Paige
O'Connor, Tiffaney L. Renfro, and Kelsey Christensen

African American youth experience disproportionate rates of negative
health consequences due to the burden of community violence, leading
Briana Woods-Jaeger and coauthors to conduct a qualitative study of the
perceptions of the youth themselves. Read More >>

Alcohol-Related Crimes And Risk Of Arrest For Intimate Partner Violence
Among California Handgun Purchasers

By Hannah Laqueur, Rose M. C. Kagawa, Mona Wright, and Garen J.
Wintemute

Hannah Laqueur and coauthors explore the relationship between alcohol
misuse and subsequent arrest for intimate partner violence. Read More >>

Creating Safe And Healthy Neighborhoods With Place-Based Violence
Interventions

By Bernadette C. Hohl, Michelle C. Kondo, Sandhya Kajeepeta, John M.
MacDonald,
Katherine P. Theall, Marc A. Zimmerman, and Charles C. Branas

Bernadette Hohl and coauthors analyze the impact of place-based
interventions on perceptions and scope of community violence in four US
cities. Read More >>

PUBLIC OPINION

Evolving Public Views On The Likelihood Of Violence From People With
Mental Illness: Stigma And Its Consequences

By Bernice A. Pescosolido, Bianca Manago, and John Monahan

Using National Stigma Study data, Bernice Pescosolido and coauthors
analyzed more than two decades of the American public's views
regarding the risk of potential violence by people with mental illness
and and support for coerced treatment. Read More >>

California Public Opinion On Health Professionals Talking With Patients
About Firearms

By Rocco Pallin, Amanda Charbonneau, Garen J. Wintemute, and Nicole
Kravitz-Wirtz

Medical and public health organizations have recommended that health
professionals discuss firearm safety with patients at risk for
gun-related injury, yet few health professionals do so. Concerns that
patients may view conversations about firearms as inappropriate have
been reported in prior studies. Using state-representative data from the
2018 California Safety and Wellbeing Survey, Rocco Pallin and coauthors
found that most Californians report gun safety conversations with health
professionals to be at least sometimes appropriate when these
conversations involved a patient who had a known risk factor for
firearm-related harm.
Read More >>

[link removed]

[link removed]

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

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

Privacy Policy

To unsubscribe from this email, click here
.                 
                                               
                        I