Highlights from The Workers Compensation Research Institute 2019 Annual Issues and Research Conference
February 28-March 1, 2019, marked the 35th annual Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Issues and Research Conference. The theme of this year’s event, “Breaking Down Barriers to Improve Injured Workers’ Outcomes,” signified two core ideas that were evident in each session. The first was that workers compensation can no longer operate in a silo. As ...
Health Policy News – March 2019
Introduction With the first quarter of the new year coming to a close, we are taking this opportunity to do a national review of major state health policy activity in 2019. Nineteen new governors were sworn into office in January, and many of them assumed office with health care at the top of their agendas. ...
Newly-Elected Governors Set Their Sights on Healthcare Reforms
The new year brought changes to state leadership across the nation, with 19 governors newly entering the corner office—seven of whom took over from an administration on the other end of the political spectrum. This refresh has brought a surge of new ideas and energy in the realm of state health policy. Below, we highlight …
Insights from the AHIP National Health Policy Conference
Last week, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) held its annual health policy conference (#AHIPPOLICY) in Washington DC, with top industry leaders, regulators and policy makers convened to provide diverse voices and perspectives on today’s most urgent health care issues. The conference themes were familiar and front-of-mind topics: tackling the opioid epidemic, rising prescription drug costs, data ...
Health Policy News – February 2019
Introduction While 2019 started slowly under the Federal shutdown, its pace of action has significantly quickened. We bring you a range of health policy updates in this edition of Health Policy News. With the comment period closed for the annual Exchange guidance, states await final guidance for 2020 related to the certification and oversight of ...
2019 Brings Progress on Prescription Drug Cost Control Efforts at State and Federal Level
As states and the federal government grapple with how best to address the issue of rising prescription drug costs, various models have emerged at the federal level that are similar to efforts underway at the State level. The Administration has called upon states to create innovative approaches to state Medicaid programs, particularly by examining value-based ...
Health Policy News Hosts Webinar on Annual Exchange Guidance
On February 7, 2019, the Health Policy News team hosted a webinar highlighting the proposed changes outlined in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) long-awaited annual Exchange guidance (proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2020 and the 2020 Draft Letter to Issuers in the Federally-facilitated Exchanges) released on January 17, 2019. ...
Health Policy News – January 2019
Introduction As readers are likely aware, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) long-awaited annual Exchange guidance was released on January 17, 2019, and, as in past years, PCG subject matter experts have prepared a summary of notable changes to assist states in parsing through this voluminous guidance. In addition to the summary, PCG ...
CMS Releases Its Long-Awaited Exchange Guidance for 2020
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released first drafts of its long-awaited annual Exchange guidance on January 17, 2019 – the Proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2020 (NBPP) and the 2020 Draft Letter to Issuers in the Federally-facilitated Exchanges (Letter) as well as ancillary guidance (the draft Actuarial Calculator and ...
2018 Retrospective & Looking Forward to 2019
This past year brought increased flexibility for states related to both public health care programs and commercial health plans, with the Federal administration announcing numerous policies to give states more control over the design / regulation of the coverage offered to consumers. We saw first-of-their-kind waivers approved at the Federal level, including community engagement / ...