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A Weekly Health Policy Round Up From Health Affairs            

**June 30, 2019**

THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG

FOLLOWING THE ACA

Fifth Circuit Questions Standing Of Parties Defending ACA In Texas v.
Azar

By Katie Keith (6/28/19)

On June 26, 2019, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals asked the parties
in Texas v. United States to respond to three questions. The court's
request arrives ahead of oral arguments scheduled for July 9 in New
Orleans. Read More >>

Unpacking The Executive Order On Health Care Price Transparency And
Quality

By Katie Keith (6/25/19)

This post discusses the executive order but does not delve into the
potential legal challenges associated with its implementation. Read More
>>

ACA Round-Up: Risk Adjustment, Exchange Blueprint, SHOP, And New Memo

By Katie Keith (6/24/19)

This post summarizes an August 2018 memo from CMS Administrator Seema
Verma to the HHS Secretary Alex Azar on recommendations regarding policy
issues in the 2020 payment rule. It also discusses several actions by
CMS. Read More >>

MATERNAL AND CHILD CARE

Addressing The US Maternal Health Crisis: Policies of 2020 Presidential
Candidates

By Alex Friedman Peahl, Katy Backes Kozhimannil, and Lindsay K. Admon
(6/26/19)

Rising rates of maternal mortality have gained national attention and
the 2020 presidential candidates are rallying support around new
proposals to improve maternity outcomes in the United States.Read More
>>

PAYMENT

Medicare's Direct Provider Contracting: To Primary Care And Beyond

By Joshua M. Liao and Amol S. Navathe (6/28/19)

CMS seeks to implement models that enable it to directly contract with
providers and suppliers and hold them accountable for the cost and
quality of care of defined patient populations. Read More >>

QUALITY OF CARE

Will The Federal Data Strategy Help Communities WIN?

By Somava Saha, Bruce B. Cohen, and Robert Phillips (6/27/19)

WIN represents the first set of national multisector measures developed
with input from those sectors and from local communities for measuring
population health with a social determinant lens. It is already gaining
widespread note from a wide and diverse range of national organizations
and communities. Read More >>

COSTS AND SPENDING
[link removed] How
Silver Loading Impacts Insurance Markets Depends On State And Insurer
Decisions

By David Anderson (6/27/19)

Silver loading is another source of variance and unpredictability for
consumers today and in the future. Read More >>

GLOBAL HEALTH POLICY

An Urgent Opportunity To Save Infant Lives: Multiple Micronutrient
Supplements For Pregnant Women

By Spencer Kirk, Robert Hecht, and Shan Soe-Lin (6/27/19)

We can gain a huge opportunity to provide additional nutrition and
health benefits to mothers and infants, particularly those in
disadvantaged settings who need them the most, and to improve the lives
of millions of newborn children. Read More >>

BIOETHICS

The Ethics Of Population Aging: Precarity, Justice, And Choice

By Nancy Berlinger and Mildred Z. Solomon (6/27/19)

Bioethics has contributed greatly to enhancing the rights of patients to
guide treatment decisions near the end of life, but the field has fallen
short in addressing population-level concerns that aging societies now
face, say these authors from The Hastings Center. With foundation
funding, the center is looking at how social determinants of health may
lead to "unequal aging" and at the ethical choices about dying that are
important to people facing dementia. Read More >>

ORGANIZATION OF CARE

Sustaining Universal Coverage: Lessons From California's Integrated
Delivery System

By Stephen M. Shortell, Richard M. Scheffler, Shivi Anand, and Daniel R.
Arnold (6/26/19)

To ensure that universal coverage is sustainable over time, it will be
necessary to change how we pay for and deliver care. Read More >>

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Leveraging Medicaid To Combat The Opioid Epidemic: How Leader States And
Health Plans Deliver Evidence-Based Treatment

By Tyler Sadwith, John O'Brien, Vikki Wachino, and Sarah Twardock
(6/24/19)

In our new report, we describe how several state Medicaid agencies
transformed their treatment systems by focusing on quality and
accessibility. Read More >>

ACCESS TO CARE

The Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap And The ONC's And CMS's
Proposed New Regulations: Are We Halfway There Yet?

By Karen DeSalvo and Mark Savage (6/25/19)

This system would be capable of improving individual and population
health, empowering consumers, driving innovation, addressing health
disparities, advancing precision medicine, and supporting value-based
care and reimbursement.Read More >>

IN THE JOURNAL

ACCOUNTABLE CARE

ACO Serious Illness Care: Survey And Case Studies Depict Current
Challenges And Future Opportunities

By William K. Bleser, Robert S. Saunders, Lia Winfield, Mark Japinga,
Nathan Smith, Brystana G. Kaufman, Hannah L. Crook, David B. Muhlestein,
and Mark McClellan

William Bleser and coauthors report results of a national survey of ACOs
on their implementation of serious illness initiatives such as advance
care planning or home-based palliative care. Read More >>

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'Eyes In The Home': ACOs Use Home Visits To Improve Care Management,
Identify Needs, And Reduce H
ospital
Use
By Taressa K. Fraze, Laura B. Beidler, Adam D. M. Briggs, and Carrie H.
Colla

Taressa Fraze and coauthors use national survey data from physician
practices and accountable care organizations (ACOs), paired with
qualitative interviews, to learn about home visiting programs. Read More
>>

PRIMARY CARE

Impact Of Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, And Physician Assistants On
Utilization And Costs For Complex Patients

By Perri A. Morgan, Valerie A. Smith, Theodore S. Z. Berkowitz, David
Edelman, Courtney H. Van Houtven, Sandra L. Woolson, Cristina C.
Hendrix, Christine M. Everett, Brandolyn S. White, and George L. Jackson

Perri Morgan and coauthors compare health services use and costs for
medically complex patients with diabetes depending on whether the
primary care provider was a physician, nurse practitioner, or
physician's assistant. Read More >>

ORGANIZATION OF CARE

Users Of Veteran-Directed Care And Other Purchased Care Have Similar
Hospital Use And Costs Over Time

By Yingzhe Yuan, Kali S. Thomas, Austin B. Frakt, Steven D. Pizer, and
Melissa M. Garrido

The Veteran-Directed Care (VDC) program facilitates independent
community living among adults with multiple chronic conditions and
functional limitations. Yingzhe Yuan and coauthors identify veterans
enrolled in VDC in fiscal year 2017 and investigate differences in
hospital admissions and costs after initial receipt of VDC services.
Read More >>

GRANTWATCH

Health Workforce: What Funders Are Supporting

By Lee L. Prina

The June 2019 GrantWatch column focuses on the broader health
professions workforce, including those caring for people with serious
illness. Among the topics mentioned are an upcoming RWJF report on the
future of nursing; clinician burnout; Medicaid home- and community-based
care in New Hampshire; how to eliminate the projected shortfall of
primary care providers in California; an effort to develop a workforce
data repository in Arizona; and more. In Key Personnel Changes, read
about Peter Long's new position and about RWJF's new executive vice
president. Read More >>

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BOOK REVIEWS

Immunotherapy's Promise

By Jakub P. Hlávka

Jakub P. Hlávka reviews Charles Graeber's newest book, The
Breakthrough: Immunotherapy and the Race to Cure Cancer, which details
the long quest to find a lasting cure for cancer as well as recent
advances in immunotherapy. Read More >>

Is 'Made In China' Good Enough For America?

By Daniel Poppy

Daniel Poppy reviews China Rx, by Rosemary Gibson and Janardan Prasad
Singh, which chronicles the pharmaceutical manufacturing shift from the
US to China and makes the case for reducing America's dependence on
China for medicine. Read More >> 

HEALTH AFFAIRS ANNOUNCEMENT

**Health Affairs** theme issue on the Affordable Care Act at 10

Health Affairs is planning a March 2020 theme issue on the 10th
anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The volume will
serve as an important historical document, capturing the law's
development and what it has and has not accomplished, and will also
explore options and issues for reform discussions in an election year
and the decade beyond. We are grateful to the Commonwealth Fund and the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for their generous support of this issue.

We welcome your submissions and inquiries and invite you to visit
ourannouncement

page for more information on the types of papers we will consider,
topics that we plan to cover in the issue, and other details on our
submission and selection processes.

Full manuscript submissions are due on October 1, 2019.

HEALTH AFFAIRS EVENTS

PAST EVENT:  SENIORS IN THE "MIDDLE MARKET"

Many Seniors Will Be Unable To Afford Housing And Health Care By 2029

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private-pay senior housing and care, but with too many resources to
qualify for Medicaid - is rapidly expanding and facing escalating
health and housing needs as they age.  Get caught up with the event:
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