Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

How Obamacare Will Impact Americans With Disabilities

Excerpt from: Forbes (click for full article)

 

It’s now just nine months until the key elements of Obamacare go live. With the countdown to the debut of Health Insurance Marketplaces (the “Exchanges”) and sweeping new insurance industry regulations now on everyone’s mind, I’m amazed at how much our conversation centers on the partisan political technicalities surrounding implementation rather than the practical impact. It’s a huge bill with wide implications for all of healthcare, but by using my perspective as a rehabilitation specialist I’m going to explain what Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) means for people living with brain injuries. My analysis demonstrates core principles that will affect every one of us. While some of the reimbursement changes are still vague or experimental, creating some anxieties for providers like myself, these concerns take second stage to the advancements in civil society the ACA represents. We’re embarking on a transformative period when our most vulnerable citizens will see their circumstances fundamentally improve.

Medicaid Expansion Under the Affordable Care Act

Excerpt from: Kaiser Family Foundation (click for full article)

 

Omnicare and WellCare Partner to Improve Health Outcomes in Long-Term Care Market

Excerpt from: Market Watch (click for full article)

 

Omnicare, Inc. and WellCare Health Plans, Inc. announced today an agreement to provide Medication Therapy Management (MTM) services to WellCare beneficiaries residing in long-term care (LTC) facilities to improve health outcomes.

The Affordable Care Act requires prescription drug plan sponsors to offer MTM services to eligible beneficiaries that include, at a minimum, an annual Comprehensive Medication Review (CMR) that must be furnished person-to-person or using telehealth technologies. The CMR must include a review of the beneficiary's medications, which may result in the creation of a medication action plan with a written or printed summary of the results of the review provided to the targeted beneficiary. Beginning January 1, 2013, the offer of the CMR to all eligible beneficiaries includes enrollees who are in the LTC setting.

"Omnicare is pleased to work with WellCare to improve its beneficiaries' drug therapy outcomes," said Dr. Gary Erwin, Omnicare Senior Vice President of Clinical Services. "Omnicare's clinical pharmacists are experts in geriatric care with a detailed knowledge of beneficiary clinical status, existing treatment goals and care plans. Through their experience, and with Omnicare's proprietary clinical software, the Omnicare clinical pharmacist coordinates the drug regimen review and CMR processes, engaging beneficiaries and prescribers in the LTC setting to implement quality-based drug therapy recommendations in a seamless and efficient manner."

Patrick Kennedy calls for unity as Michigan grapples with reforming mental health system

Excerpt from: MLive (click for full article)

 

Former Democratic congressman Patrick Kennedy on Monday called for bipartisan efforts to tackle pressing mental health policy questions as Michigan grapples with reforming its support system.

Republicans who dominate the state Legislature have sparred with Gov. Rick Snyder over key parts of the federal Affordable Care Act set to take effect next year.

Snyder last month announced the creation of two commissions tasked with analyzing Michigan's mental health system, and how various state agencies can better treat people with mental illnesses and addiction problems.

Key parts of that plan would rely on expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

Medicaid expansion was struck from a recent health appropriations bill because it lacked support among Republicans concerned about its long-term viability.

But Kennedy, who has a storied history battling depression, bipolar disorder and addiction, was unwavering in his call for lawmakers to work together in addressing mental health issues.

Maine to HHS: 10 Years of 100% Medicaid Certainty & A Global Waiver, Please

Excerpt from: Forbes (click for full article)

 

Maine’s Governor Paul LePage has been a vocal critic of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, he is now pushing the Obama Administration’s hand by asking for significant flexibility and more money for a much longer time period before he suggests that Maine expand Medicaid. In a letter from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Commissioner Mary Mayhew to Secretary Sebelius this past Monday, the LePage Administration made two requests: 1) 10-years of 100% reimbursement for expansion populations, 2) a global waiver.

The Pine Tree state has a history of expanding Medicaid, most recently for childless adults. However, due to Maine’s previous expansion, they will receive a lower reimbursement rate for some populations when compared to other states. As a result, the state is asking to lift that “penalty.”

According to a recent report by the Foundation for Government Accountability, the Vacationland experienced no drop in the uninsured rate following the 2002 expansion, and the program suffered from cost overruns and higher than expected enrollment. The expansion also had no impact in reducing the cost of charity care (a point that is relevant in other states where ACA expansion is being debated.)

A Change is Gonna Come: Medicare-Medicaid-Not Business as Usual

Excerpt from: Michigan Consumers for Healthcare (click for full article)

 

Start Date: 

April 11, 2013 - 11:30am - 2:00pm

Location: 

Letts Community Center

Private insurance as well as Medicar and Medicaid changes are on the horizon. Learn how these changes will affect your family, friends and lovved ones on April 11, 2013.  This FREE seminar begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Letts Community Center with special guest M.C. Local On Air Personality: Michael McFadden.

The Affordable Care Act: By The Numbers

 

Medicaid's mental health emergency

Excerpt from: American Medical News (click for full article)

 

Since July 2012, the Psychiatric Institute of Washington has stabilized and treated 150 patients with acutely chronic and serious mental health conditions under the Medicaid Emergency Psychiatric Demonstration project. Roughly two-thirds of these patients came from local emergency departments. By responding quickly to their needs, “we have been very helpful to those organizations and helping them unclog their emergency rooms,” said Howard Hoffman, MD, the institute's executive medical director. The hospital stabilizes, evaluates and treats these patients either through therapy or medication, and then provides them with aftercare programs when they're discharged.

The type of care provided by the institute is not new. What is new under this demo is that Medicaid, which previously had not covered care through private, freestanding psychiatric facilities, now is paying the bills.

The initiative, which was authorized by the Affordable Care Act, is gaining steam at a timely moment. Mental health policy issues have gained the attention of lawmakers and the public in the wake of recent shootings, including the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn., in which psychiatric problems were suspected. “We should be able to talk as a society about mental illness,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said during the American Medical Association National Advocacy Conference in February in Washington.

Why Medical Prices are Sky High

Excerpt from: Time Goes By (click for full article)

 

For the next few months, the Republicans and some Democrats along with such privatizers as Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles and the insurance industry will be pressuring Congress to turn Medicare into some kind of voucher program and gut Obamacare.

Brill's report reinforces more vividly what others before him have shown many times over – that what is wrong with our health care system is not Medicare, it's the private sector.

Go read this story and be armed for the coming fight.

NHeLP Releases New Health Reform Litigation Docket

National Health Law Program

 

NHeLP is closely monitoring all of the pending challenges to the ACA. Today we are releasing a litigation docket detailing the current status and timelines of these cases, with links to pertinent case pleadings. We will update this document monthly, so please check the link regularly to receive the most up-to-date information.