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Will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) survive in its current state, be significantly altered, or even be repealed altogether? More than two dozen cases in federal courts across the country are currently challenging various aspects of the law, notes Stan Dorn, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC.
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Arizona will have to spend $11.6 billion in general fund monies from fiscal years 2011 through 2020 to serve expansion and "woodwork" populations, as well as maintain previously optional groups that are now mandated by the federal government, according to an analysis of the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that was completed by Arizona's Medicaid program.
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As speculation continues regarding the future of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), state Medicaid directors are continuing with their planning process, says Stan Dorn, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC. "There is always a lot of posturing. After Medicare Part D passed, there was posturing," says Mr. Dorn. "But it's much harder to repeal a law than to create a law. I think it is realistic to assume it is going to go forward."
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States have the potential to save significantly under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), according to a new analysis of its fiscal impact.
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Under a proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), states would have the authority to impose a moratorium on provider types, as long as they can show this will not impact access to care.
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Brian Osberg, Minnesota's state Medicaid director, says that the agency was "a bit surprised and pleased by how much emphasis the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology placed on HIE [Health Information Exchange]," as a result of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act [HITECH] legislation.
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It's hard to imagine a tougher point-of-service collection challenge than collecting from emergency department patients. Patients may expect to pay a small copay, and when they change to inpatient status, may suddenly owe thousands of dollars toward their deductible.
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Every patient access department has registrars who can be counted on to rise to every occasion, but better pay may lure these valuable employees to other hospital departments or industries. Instead, why not give these employees "an offer they can't refuse" that is, a clear path to career advancement.
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Patient estimation software implemented in late 2009 at Tallahassee (FL) Memorial Hospital has "helped tremendously" with collections, says Joan S. Braveman, director of patient access and financial services. "In this past fiscal year, we increased our front-end cash collection by 40%," she says.
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Data breaches cost health care organizations more than $6 billion annually, and 71% of the respondents to a study released by the Ponemon Institute say they do not have enough resources to prevent or to quickly detect a loss of patient data.
