Health Affairs This Week

This week, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) updated measures in the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS). This year, the organization included measures related to health equity for data and quality measurement.NCQA Executive Vice President Eric Schneider joins Health Affairs' Rob Lott on today's episode of Health Affairs This Week to discuss the measurement changes.  Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.Related Links:HEDIS MY 2023: See What's New, What's Changed and What's Retired (NCQA)A New Effort To Address Racial and Ethnic Disparities In Care Through Quality Measurement (Health Affairs Forefront)Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castro | Stitcher | Deezer | Overcast

Listen to Katie Keith, Jessica Bylander, and Leslie Erdelack unpack the latest proposed rule from HHS implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.Section 1557 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability in certain health programs and activities. The proposed rule would reinstate civil rights protections for patients and consumers after the 2020 version of the rule limited the scope of these protections.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.Related Links:HHS Proposes Revised ACA Anti-Discrimination Rule (Health Affairs Forefront)Proposed Rule Press ReleaseFact SheetSupreme Court Finds LGBT People Are Protected From Employment Discrimination: Implications For The ACA (Health Affairs Forefront)Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castro | Stitcher | Deezer | Overcast

Listen to Health Affairs' Kathleen Haddad and Ellen Bayer discuss the new hotline and mental health initiatives in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.If interested in the Amazon-One Medical news from the week, listen to the limited podcast series Piecemeal produced for Health Affairs by Lalita Abhyankar.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.Related Links:US Transition to 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Begins Saturday (HHS)Transforming Mental Health and Addiction Services (Health Affairs)Strengthening Behavioral Healthcare To Meet The Needs Of Our Nation (Health Affairs Forefront)Bipartisan Safer Communities ActPodcast: The Mental Health Crisis (Health Affairs Pathways) Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castro | Stitcher | Deezer | Overcast

Listen to Health Affairs' Rob Lott and Vabren Watts discuss the federal and state aftermath following the Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.Related Links:Women's Live and Health: Mere Abstractions In The Leaked Dobbs Abortion Opinion (Health Affairs Forefront)As Mississippi Debates Abortion, Maternal Mortality Remains High (Jackson Free Press)HHS Secretary Letter to Health Care Providers About Emergency Medical Care FACT Sheet: President Biden To Sign Executive Order Protection Access to Reproductive Health Care Services (White House)Biden Admin to Pharmacies: Refusing to Fill Contraception and Abortion Pill Prescriptions Could Break Federal Law (Politico)Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castro | Stitcher | Deezer | Overcast

Listen to Health Affairs' Leslie Erdelack and Kathleen Haddad discuss the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services latest measures regarding rural emergency hospitals and price transparency for hospitals and payers.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.Related Links:CMS's Proposed Rule for Conditions of Participation for Rural Emergency Hospitals and Critical Access Hospital UpdatesPodcast: Hospitals At Large Are Failing At Price Transparency (Health Affairs This Week)Now Insurers and Employers Have To Reveal Health Care Prices (The Washington Post)Offering A Price Transparency Tool Did Not reduce Overall Spending Among California Public Employees And Retirees (Health Affairs)Price Transparency - Promise and Peril (JAMA)Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castro | Stitcher | Deezer | Overcast

Listen to Health Affairs' Chris Fleming interview Manatt Health's Cindy Mann on budget neutrality requirements for Medicaid 1115 demonstrations.This episode was recorded on June 23, 2022.Related Links:Rethinking The Budget Neutrality Requirement for Medicaid 1115 Demonstrations (Health Affairs Forefront)Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castro | Stitcher | Deezer | Overcast

As part of Pride Month, listen to Health Affairs' Jessica Bylander and Kathleen Haddad discuss the White House's executive order on LGBTQI+ equality and its impact on health care.Related Links:Privately Insured Transgender People Are At Elevated Risk For Chronic Conditions Compared With Cisgender Counterparts (Health Affairs)Podcast: A Health Podyssey with Landon HughesLesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Adults Report Continued Problems Affording Care Despite Coverage Gains (Health Affairs)The Battle Over Gender Therapy (The New York Times Magazine)2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health (The Trevor Project)Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castro | Stitcher | Deezer | Overcast

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission launched a formal inquiry into pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).Listen to Health Affairs' Leslie Erdelack and Vabren Watts discuss the FTC's probe into PBMs and how vertical integration and consolidation may affect patients and health care consumers.Related Links:FTC Launches Investigation Into Major Pharmacy Benefit Managers' Business Practices (FierceHealthcare)A Six-Step Solution To The PBM Problem (Health Affairs Forefront)On Drug Prices, Pharmacy Benefit Managers Are Not The Problem (Health Affairs Forefront)PBM Oversight, Insulin Cost-Sharing Provisions Among Build Back Better Act (Health Affairs Forefront) Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castro | Stitcher | Deezer | Overcast

Listen to Health Affairs' Jessica Bylander and Ellen Bayer go over the big health policy headlines from this week, including what we know about Monkeypox, the implications of the latest Medicare Trustees Report, and nursing home workforce shortages.Related Links:2022 Medicare Trustees Report (CMS)Medicare's Supplementary Medical Insurance Fund: A Growing Burden on Taxpayers (Health Affairs Forefront)The Coming Crisis For The Medicare Trust Fund (Health Affairs Forefront)Fact Sheet: Protecting Seniors by Improving Safety and Quality of Care in the Nation's Nursing Homes (White House)The Waltz: To Improve Nursing Home Care, Invest In The Workforce (Health Affairs Forefront)Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and Podcasts free for everyone.Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castro | Stitcher | Deezer | Overcast

Listen to Health Affairs' Rob Lott and Chris Fleming put the FDA under the microscope on user fees and baby formula shortages.Related Links:FDA User Fee Reauthorization Bill Emerges In Both Chambers (Health Affairs Forefront)Fact Sheet: President Biden Announces New Actions to Address Infant Formula Shortage (White House)Biden Invokes the Defense Production Act for the Baby Formula Shortage (NPR)Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castro | Stitcher | Deezer | Overcast