Featured Report: Loophole could let insurers delay reform compliance

This Week's Healthcare Online News
iHealthbeat
Patients Benefit From Online Access to EHR Data, Study Finds
Apr,04,2013
by+Staff
Patients "overwhelmingly" experience positive benefits when they have online access to their electronic health records, according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, FierceEMR reports (Durben Hirsch, FierceEMR, 4/1).

Study Details
The study involved 30 veterans and six family members who participated in the My HealtheVet pilot program, which ran from 2000 to 2010 (Terry, InformationWeek, 4/3). My HealtheVet was a personal health record portal that allowed veterans to view and download content from their electronic health record (Woods et al., Journal of Medical Internet Research, 3/27).
Researchers interviewed the patients in focus groups at the Portland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Oregon (FierceEMR, 4/1).
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Med City News
Tax preparers + enrolling in a health insurance exchange = Match made in heaven?
Apr,03,2013
by:+Veronica Combs
Who says the Affordable Care Act doesn’t create jobs? The new insurance exchanges may create new revenue streams for tax preparers and year-round employment for their tax experts.
Jackson Hewitt is lobbying the government for an active role in helping boost enrollment in the insurance exchanges. H&R Block and Intuit won’t say what their plans are for new health insurance services, but it’s clear they see an opportunity.
Jackson Hewitt’s first vice president for health policy says that tax preparers are the ideal partner to help the federal government enroll people in health insurance exchanges.
“Federal policy makers talk about enrolling people at healthcare centers, but if you enroll people as they are seeking services, you get sick people,” Brian Haile said. “At tax preparer sites, you’ll get everyone.”
“Also people are already coming to our brick and mortar locations, so you’re not asking them to change behavior.”
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Fierce Health Payer
Loophole could let insurers delay reform compliance
Apr,03,2013
By:+Dina Overland
An obscure loophole in the health reform law, which lets consumers renew their current policies for an extra year, may help insurers avoid covering additional benefits mandated under the legislation. If insurers let members keep their current coverage until 2014, they won't have to comply with the reform law's provisions, most of which take effect in January, for an additional year, reported the Los Angeles Times. This generally overlooked aspect of the reform law could be welcome news to insurers, particularly since only 2 percent of them already offer all the reform-mandated benefits. Extending their policies would provide a grace period for most insurers to bridge that significant gap, FierceHealthPayer previously reported
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Modern Healthcare.com
Walgreen clinics expand care into chronic illness
Apr,04,2013
by:+Associated Press
Walgreen Co. has expanded the reach of its drugstore clinics beyond treating ankle sprains and sinus infections to handling chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure.
The company, based in Deerfield, Ill., said Thursday that most of its 370 in-store Take Care Clinics now will diagnosis, treat and monitor patients with some chronic conditions that are typically handled by doctors.
Drugstore clinics, which are run by nurse practitioners or physician assistants, have grown popular in recent years as a convenient way for patients to get immunizations, physicals and treatment for relatively minor illnesses when their regular doctor is unavailable. But the clinics have been broadening their scope of care: Walgreen's decision follows a move by CVS Caremark Corp. a few years ago to handle chronic conditions at most of its 640 MinuteClinics.

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