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Healthcare reform

HHS proposes new HIPAA regs

Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services issued proposed regulations under the privacy rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The proposed regulations address the changes to the accounting requirement under the HIPAA privacy rule, pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. The regulations also create a new requirement that covered entities – health plans, health care clearinghouses and health care providers – provide an access report to individuals upon request.

By Kate Bongiovanni

New Affordable Care Act insurance rate review rules start September 1

Starting Sept. 1, health insurance rates for the individual and small group markets will face stricter scrutiny to determine whether they are reasonable under new rules required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will review rates in nine states that lack the authority to adequately do so. The remaining 41 states will conduct their own reviews.

Lisa V. Gillespie
By Lisa V. Gillespie
Writer

Commentary: How to make health care reform exchanges economically viable

I always have had an ear for conspiracy theories. I still watch Oliver Stone’s “JFK” almost religiously and freeze frame during the shooting incidence. But when it comes to the health care exchanges created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, even I cannot start to consider a deep-seated conspiracy. The more I look at it, the more obvious the answer becomes: It's simple economics, that greatest leveler of them all.

Rajiv Sabharwal
By Rajiv Sabharwal
Deloitte Consulting LLP

Customer service vs. cost

For all the discussion about lowering the cost of health care and providing health benefits, is there a more important arbiter of employer satisfaction with a health plan than holding down cost trends? Maybe so, according to the results of the latest survey from J.D. Power and Associates.

Brian M. Kalish
By Brian M. Kalish
Online Managing Editor, Health Care Group
SourceMedia

Child-only plans decline

Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, released a report recently showing access to child-only health insurance plans has declined significantly since passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Lisa V. Gillespie
By Lisa V. Gillespie
Writer

Questions plague state health exchange program

When Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced rules for the new state health insurance exchanges back in July, she did so with an air of caution, telling stakeholders to expect more modifications before they become final. That may prove to be an understatement.

Pat Speer
By Pat Speer
President
Speer Content Strategy & Development

Previewing technology’s role in health exchanges

The clock is ticking. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges are targeted to come online in 2014, which means open enrollment must begin in the fall of 2013. Every state is determining its approach, and everyone in the industry is strategizing on how to tap into a projected market of 25 million enrollees by 2016. The states will take different approaches, but the common denominator is technology. This month we'll look at how technology will be utilized in exchanges and identify other corresponding services that will be necessary to make the exchanges a success.

John Lamb
By John Lamb
VP and Group Head
EBIX

Top 6 state-run insurance websites revealed

A survey measuring use by various state’s departments of insurance of their websites to engage consumers rated California, Georgia, Kansas, Ohio, Texas and Utah as highest in giving consumers access to critical insurance information.

Pat Speer
By Pat Speer
President
Speer Content Strategy & Development

13 states get federal insurance exchange grants

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have received funds from the Department of Health and Human Services totaling $185 million to build state insurance exchanges to aid consumers and small businesses in comparative shopping for health care coverage.

By Joseph Goedert
Senior Editor
Health Data Management

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