Health System Costs
FEATURED ARTICLE
Tracking COVID-19 Federal Relief Funding to Hospitals: A Tool for States
/in COVID-19 COVID-19, Health System Costs, Hospital/Health System Oversight, Population Health /by Johanna ButlerHospitals and health care providers need financial support to respond to the pandemic and for future viability. In response, Congress allocated billions of dollars in relief funds through multiple existing and new programs. The disbursement of these funds is uncoordinated and so are public reports that track where the money is going, but states need […]
State Legislative Action to Lower Pharmaceutical Costs
/in Prescription Drug Pricing Maps Cost, Payment, and Delivery Reform, Health System Costs, Legislative Tracker, Prescription Drug Pricing, State Rx Legislative Action Prescription Drug Pricing /by NASHP StaffFederal Judge Upholds Hospital Rate Transparency Rule
/in Policy Blogs, Featured News Home Consumer Affordability, Health System Costs, Hospital/Health System Oversight /by NASHP StaffIn late June, the US District Court for the District of Columbia upheld the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) 2019 transparency rule that requires hospitals to make public five standard charges, including their chargemaster rates and rates paid by private payers by Jan. 1, 2021. A coalition of hospital groups and hospital systems […]
Should We Re-Invent State Health Planning and Certificate-of-Need Programs?
/in COVID-19 Blogs, Featured News Home Consumer Affordability, COVID-19, Health System Costs, Hospital/Health System Oversight, Making the Case for Action, Population Health /by Johanna Butler, Trish Riley and Ellen SchneiterCOVID-19 has profoundly affected the health care landscape, raising anew concerns about the high cost of hospitalizations while simultaneously placing new burdens on those facilities and curtailing non-emergency services. Providers, unable to see patients for routine care, lost revenue and many free-standing physician practices are now at risk, and now face increasing pressure to merge […]
COVID-19 Testing Is Critical, but Lacks Federal Guidelines and Protocols
/in COVID-19 Blogs, Featured News Home Consumer Affordability, COVID-19, Health System Costs, Making the Case for Action, Population Health /by Allie Atkeson and Maureen Hensley-QuinnThe importance of COVID-19 testing is clear, especially as new cases climb dramatically, reversing earlier successes at controlling the spread of the disease. Lack of a coordinated, federally-led testing initiative and protocols has prompted questions about how often testing should occur, whether both symptomatic and asymptomatic should be tested, and who should pay for it, and in what circumstance. As states […]
NASHP Resource Hub: State Strategies to Address Palliative Care
/in Policy Reports, Toolkits Care Coordination, Chronic and Complex Populations, Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, Community Health Workers, Cost, Payment, and Delivery Reform, Featured Policy Home, Health Coverage and Access, Health System Costs, Long-Term Care, Medicaid Managed Care, Palliative Care, Physical and Behavioral Health Integration, Population Health, Workforce Capacity Chronic and Complex Populations /by Natalie Williams, Kitty Purington and Rachel DonlonPalliative care helps individuals with serious illness better manage the symptoms and stressors of disease. These services are interdisciplinary, person- and family-centered, and can help people at any stage of a serious illness.
States are uniquely positioned to influence how Americans think about access, and experience palliative care.
CMS Proposes Rule to Support Value-Based Purchasing for Drugs
/in Policy Blogs, Featured News Home Administrative Actions, Cost, Payment, and Delivery Reform, Health System Costs, Prescription Drug Pricing, State Employee Health Plans, Value-Based Purchasing /by Jennifer ReckThe Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a new rule with provisions designed to advance value-based purchasing (VBP) arrangements with drug manufacturers. Comments about the proposal are due July 20, 2020.
With Federal Funding Fragmented, States Develop COVID-19 Testing Programs for the Uninsured
/in COVID-19 Blogs, Featured News Home Consumer Affordability, COVID-19, Eligibility and Enrollment, Health Coverage and Access, Health System Costs, Medicaid Expansion, Population Health /by Anita Cardwell and Trish RileyAs states loosen restrictions on stay-at-home orders, many are struggling to establish clear and consistent COVID-19 testing protocols to support individuals’ safe return to work and school and identify ways to pay for increased testing. Absent federal guidance, there is significant debate about who is responsible for funding testing – insurers argue a test must be medically necessary and employers […]
How Waste-Free Formularies Create Savings on Prescription Drugs
/in Policy Blogs, Featured News Home Administrative Actions, Consumer Affordability, Health System Costs, Prescription Drug Pricing /by Jennifer ReckRemoving wasteful drugs from formularies and replacing them with drugs that offer the same benefits at a lower cost, helps state employee health plans and other public purchasers reduce spending without sacrificing value – a critical strategy for savings as states face tremendous budget pressures.
2020 State Legislative Action to Lower Health System Costs
/in Health System Costs Maps Consumer Affordability, Health System Costs, Hospital/Health System Oversight, Making the Case for Action, State Employee Health Plans, Total Cost of Care Benchmark Health System Costs /by NASHP Staff