Illinois joins feds as exchange deadline nears

Modern Healthcare.com
Illinois joins feds as exchange deadline nears
By Rich Daly
February 13, 2013
Illinois became the third state to receive conditional approval to launch a health insurance exchange in partnership with the federal government less than eight months from now. The announcement came days before a Feb. 15 deadline for states to apply to participate in that model in 2014. The deadline is three months later than originally planned. The Obama administration extended the window in November to give more time to states with newly elected governors and others that awaited the presidential election outcome to choose a direction. The partnership model is one of three options for health insurance exchanges—recently rebranded by HHS as marketplaces—required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. States also can apply to operate their own marketplaces or they can take no action and default to a federally operated exchange. Read More

Med City News
Personal QR codes could help first responders get vital patient information
February 18, 2013
by Stephanie Baum
A first responder team responds to a 911 call to find an unresponsive victim. They scan the QR code on the person’s phone or card and get information volunteered by the patient when they register such as underlying conditions, medications he or she is taking and allergies. That was the winning idea for the second Startup Weekend Health held in Philadelphia.

The idea behind the QR code scan is that it would be a personalized system to reduce the risk of medical errors by avoiding medication or treatment that could conflict with medication the patient is taking, pre-existing conditions or allergies. It would also simultaneously alert emergency contacts through a text message

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Fierce Health IT
National Library of Medicine looks to social media to help it improve
February 14, 2013
By Susan D. Hall
The National Library of Medicine has put out a call for a software system to mine social media for insight into how users access its data and how it can improve. It plans to scrutinize social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as blogs, news sites, discussion boards and video- and image-sharing sites, according to a solicitation. "The worldwide explosion in the use of social media provides a unique opportunity for sampling sentiment and use patterns of NLM's 'customers' and for comparing NLM to other sources of health-related information," the solicitation says.

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Fierce Health Payer
One-third of payers exceed reform's out-of-pocket limits
February 12, 2013
By Dina Overland
More than one out of every three insurers has out-of-pocket costs for individual health plans that exceed new limits set under the reform law, according to a new study from technology company HealthPocket. After analyzing government data on more than 9,700 health insurance policies, HealthPocket concluded 36 percent of individual plans surpass the reform law's $6,300 out-of-pocket cap. Out-of-pocket costs averaged $6,019 in 2012, but varied from $3,000 to as much as $10,000 a year, according to the study. Insurers selling plans in 15 states exceeded the reform law's out-of-pocket limits, with insurers in five states--Alabama, Florida, Oregon, Vermont and Washington--surpassing that mark by 28 percent, Albuquerque Business First reported. Read More

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