State News

Ohio’s “minority health strike force” has issued a report containing 34 recommendations aimed at dismantling racism, removing public health obstacles, improving the social, economic and physical environments and strengthening data collection to better track disparities. These efforts are part of the state’s developing blueprint to reduce health inequities, the Columbus Dispatch reports. African Americans make up around 14 percent of Ohio’s population but comprise close to 19 percent of the state’s COVID-19 deaths, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health.

Payers can reduce unnecessary healthcare spending by incentivizing consumers to choose lower-cost healthcare providers, reports HealthPayerIntelligence. Focusing on Suffolk County, Massachusetts, the study from the Pioneer Institute used data from the Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis to track resident healthcare spending on 16 services. They compared the cost difference between services used in 2015 and what they would have been had residents gone to lower-priced providers. The health system could have saved nearly $22 million in one year. To incentivize members to transition toward lower-cost providers, researchers recommend rewards and cash-back programs.

Half of New Jersey adults experienced problems affording healthcare in the past year and three-fourths worry about affording it in the future, according to the latest Consumer Healthcare Experience State Survey by the Healthcare Value Hub. In a press conference consumer advocates from New Jersey, a patient facing high drug costs, U.S. Senator Cory Booker and New Jersey Assemblyman John McKeon all spoke on the issues of high drug costs facing their communities and constituents. Assemblyman McKeon has sponsored a bill to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board, reports New Jersey 101.5, to meet every six weeks, evaluate drug prices and set limits on how much payers pay for high-cost prescription medications – a policy that received widespread bipartisan support in the Hub’s New Jersey survey.

The Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has been awarded a $7 million grant to address the need for training additional family medicine physicians to serve in rural and underserved areas of the state, reports the Birmingham Times. The grant, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will enable the department to develop high school and college pipeline programs, medical student programming and faculty development programs to enhance curriculum and mentoring efforts. The University of Alabama at Birmingham has laid the groundwork for the enriched training program – the Comprehensive Urban Underserved and Rural Experience (CU2RE). 

The Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner released the 2021 requested rate filings for health insurance plans under the ACA, highlighting that the average rate requests would result in an average decrease in premiums in the individual market, allowing consumers greater flexibility and increased access to affordable, comprehensive coverage, reports the Pennsylvania Pressroom. Key initiatives, like establishing a state-based health insurance exchange and reinsurance fund, have driven down premium rates for 2021 and are the reason that premiums are, on average, going down in the individual market.

Proponents are continuing to set up the Colorado Purchasing Alliance, despite setbacks caused by the coronavirus, reports the Colorado Sun. The alliance, a group that brings together employers and individuals to use their collective leverage to negotiate better deals from providers and insurance companies, will launch in 2021 with as many as 200,000 people enrolled. Similar to the other purchasing alliance in Colorado, the Peak Health Alliance, the Colorado Purchasing Alliance aims to significantly reduce healthcare costs and improve coverage. 

A 2013 payment reform implemented by Oregon’s Medicaid program was associated with a 42.4 percent relative reduction in traditional primary care services—driven primarily by decreased use of imaging services, according to Health Affairs. The payment reform changed the Medicaid program’s reimbursement of traditional primary care services for selected community health centers (CHCs) from a per visit to a per patient rate. The authors stated that Oregon’s initiative could provide lessons for other states interested in using payment reform to advance the patient-centered medical home model for the Medicaid population.

Despite state and federal requirements that health plans must cover a wide range of costs related to COVID-19 testing and care, New Jersey hospitals say they aren’t being properly paid, reports NJ Spotlight. Thirty acute care facilities in the state reported that more than 1,000 claims related to COVID-19 patients were denied by various health insurance companies between March and the end of June, according to the New Jersey Hospital Association. In half of the cases, the company questioned the medical necessity of the treatment. One hospital alone reported nearly 1,500 denials related to testing services, regardless of the requirements that these services be covered.

A $2.5 million grant for American Indian and Alaska Native students in the Montana State University College of Nursing will be used for Montana Advantage Nursing Scholarships, reports MSU News Service. These scholarships aim to increase American Indian and Alaska Native enrollment and graduation rates by reducing financial barriers. The ultimate goal is to achieve health equity for these populations by increasing the number and quality of American Indian and Alaska Native nurses and primary care providers who are educated to deliver culturally sensitive healthcare services to their communities in remote and rural settings, as well as urban areas. The grant, from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will be distributed over five years.