Latest News and Information on Health Care Reform
Visit www.AmericanHealthSolution.org to see the latest news and information on health care reform and to learn more about AHIP’s Campaign for an American Solution, a national grassroots and educational initiative to build support for health care reform.
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Big Year-End Book Sale for Small Year-End Budgets
As the year and budgets wind down, the AHIP Center for Insurance Education and Professional Development can help you stretch your dollars and stretch your mind with its year-end book sale. Purchase one of more than a dozen selected publications by December 31, 2009 and you'll save 20%* (*discount does not apply to taxes or shipping/handling costs).
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Medicare Advantage/Part D enrollment begins Nov. 15. Training begins now.
Do members of your team have a full understanding of CMS' rules and requirements for Medicare marketing as of July, 2009? Make sure your team is in full compliance for the upcoming Medicare enrollment season by completing the AHIP Center for Insurance Education and Professional Development's online training program, Marketing Medicare Advantage and Part D Prescription Drug Plans: Understanding Medicare Basics, Plan Options, and Marketing and Enrollment Requirements. This course provides rigorous training on the rules for the individual Medicare market so brokers, agents, and health insurance plan marketing staff may earn a certificate that they can provide to all Medicare Advantage and Part D plan sponsors with which they contract.
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AHIP Vaccines and Immunization Roundtable Report: Vaccine Financing
While immunization rates for children, adolescents, and adults in the United States are at record high levels, the increasing number of new vaccines and the higher prices of some newer vaccines are challenging the successful United States immunization delivery and financing infrastructure. AHIP’s Vaccine Financing Roundtable Report presents the unique perspective from a diverse group of stakeholders who shared the common desire to better understand and to strengthen the nation’s vaccine delivery and financing system. Issues discussed were pertinent to vaccination cost issues, levels of provider reimbursement, provider perception of the vaccine financing problem, and the likelihood of a decline of the number of physicians who provide vaccines in the United States. The report captures the dynamic discussion that occurred throughout the AHIP Vaccines and Immunization Roundtable on Vaccine Financing.
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Professional Development Training—An Important Investment
As you continue to navigate tough economic times and the changing health care landscape, remaining focused on fostering employee development to position your staff and your organization for long-term success remains a priority. The AHIP Foundation’s 2010-2011 Executive Leadership Program (ELP), Executive Leadership Program for Medical Directors (ELP-MD), and the Minority Management Development (MMD) Program help you to cultivate and motivate your strong performers. Each program offers your organization long-term rewards, as well as short-term benefits as Fellows are able to immediately incorporate their newly acquired knowledge and skills into everyday responsibilities. Applications due March 15, 2010.
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Special Offer for Institute 2010, Including Your Hotel
As you plan for 2010, including your conference and travel budgets, we understand the economic challenges facing your organization. To help, we’d like to extend several offers. Save on your 2010 Institute registration and your hotel reservation. Special offers end January 31, 2010. Visit the Institute 2010 website for details.
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2010 AHIP - CDC Vaccine Safety Fellowship Program
AHIP announces the availability of a fellowship position in Vaccine Safety. The 2010 AHIP–CDC Vaccine Safety Fellowship is offered in coordination with centers affiliated with the Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment (CISA) Network sponsored by the Immunization Safety Office (ISO) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CISA is a network of research centers with the capability of intensive case evaluation and extensive research laboratories that can be used to evaluate the pathophysiology of vaccine adverse events and potential predisposing factors to these adverse events.
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Health Insurance Plans Making a Difference: Driving Quality Improvement and Accountability
As the nation grapples with the urgent challenges of ensuring all Americans have access to quality, affordable care, health insurance plans are forging ahead with initiatives to improve health care quality through reporting and payment reforms that promote value, encourage ongoing improvement, and advance high-quality health care. To get a better sense of the scope and variety of health plan programs and initiatives targeting quality improvement, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) surveyed a representative sample of commercial and Medicare Advantage member health insurance plans representing more than 95,000,000 covered lives. The survey data, collected in 2009, demonstrate health plan activities and programs that improve quality of care, patient safety, and reduce costs to the health care system. The following report highlights data from the survey.
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Are You Ready for the HIPAA and ICD-10 Changes? We’ll Help You Get There
Implementing revised HIPAA standards and the adoption of ICD-10 codes is a significant undertaking for health insurance plans and involves extensive planning and execution. AHIP and Deloitte Consulting LLP have developed a nine-part Virtual Seminar series that will help get you ready. The series will focus on key components of the HIPAA and ICD-10 regulatory changes mandated by the Department of Health and Human Services. Click here for specific topics and dates.
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AHIP Foundation 2009 Community Leadership Awards - Showcasing the Industry's Best!
The AHIP Foundation is pleased to recognize four winners this year—two winners in the “Large/Affiliated” category and two in the “Small/Independent” category, along with eight honorable mention programs. The recipients of the AHIP Foundation 2009 Community Leadership Award strive to improve the health and environment of their communities, and focus on what we’re all working to deliver—high quality, accessible, and affordable health care. Winners: Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin – Adopt A School Program, Highmark Blue Shield – PALS-People Able to Lend Support, Keystone Mercy Health Plan – The Health Ministry 40-Day Journey, L.A. Care Health Plan – Seniors and Persons with Disabilities Initiative
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AHIP's Resource for Well-Being Map -- Click Here to Explore the Health and Well-Being of America
In order to foster a better understanding of America's health and well-being, AHIP has created an interactive map of America coupled with a revolutionary set of data captured by Gallup and the Census Bureau. The data and map allow you to evaluate six primary domains of America's health and well-being at the state and congressional district level.
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AHIP 2009 H1N1 Influenza Information
This information is intended to provide updates and resources regarding H1N1 influenza. AHIP is in regular contact with the CDC, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Homeland Security to help support public health response efforts. We will continue to communicate H1N1 Flu updates, as needed, via memo and conference calls to AHIP member organizations.
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AHIP’s Comprehensive Health Care Reform Proposal
The new reform proposal would: Ensure universal coverage by guaranteeing coverage for pre-existing conditions, fixing the health care safety net, giving tax credits to working families and enacting an individual coverage requirement; Call on the nation to set a goal of reducing the growth in health care costs by 30 percent; Enhance portability for people changing or in between jobs; Provide more affordable health care options for small businesses; and Increase value and improve quality.
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Publication Highlights Health Insurance Plan Innovations in Recognizing and Rewarding Quality.
AHIP’s Innovations in Recognizing and Rewarding Quality monograph highlights some of the most innovative approaches that regional and national health insurance plans have taken to advance quality of care and efficiency through the recognition and reward of physicians and hospitals for achieving national benchmarks, demonstrating outstanding performance and making measurable improvements over time. Among the twenty-eight featured programs, some focus on physicians; others focus on hospitals; others involve multi-stakeholder collaborations.
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PricewaterhouseCoopers Cost Study
PricewaterhouseCoopers latest cost study finds that 87 cents out of every premium dollar go directly towards paying for medical services. Prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on behalf of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), “The Factors Fueling Rising Healthcare Costs 2008” examines the causes of rising health care costs and analyzes how health insurance premium dollars are being spent.
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Learn More about Long-Term Care Insurance
AHIP recently launched a new consumer-friendly website, www.MyLifeMyFamily.com, to better inform consumers about their risks of needing long-term care and highlight the valuable financial protection long-term care insurance provides. The website provides videos that feature real-life stories from current policyholders, an interactive online quiz, and additional resources on long-term care insurance.
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Publication Highlights Health Plan Innovations in Prevention, Wellness
AHIP’s Innovations in Prevention, Wellness and Risk Reduction monograph highlights innovative initiatives that capture health insurance plans’ commitment to programs that prevent disease and improve the lives of their members and their communities by helping them stay well. The publication features forty company profiles and essays by five noted experts who explore the reasons why the related challenges of prevention, wellness and risk reduction for chronic disease require both innovative and comprehensive responses.
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AHIP Releases Recommendations for Addressing Obesity
AHIP’s white paper, Facing the Challenge of Unhealthy Weight: Recommendations for the Health Care Community, offers several recommendations and examines promising programs that health insurance plans and clinicians have developed in collaboration with community partners to encourage body mass index (BMI) screening and address the obesity epidemic. Recommendations include making routine BMI screening and interpretation a standard clinical practice; connecting BMI screening to evidence-based prevention and treatment options; and building partnerships and disseminating promising practices among health plans, physicians and clinicians, employers and community groups.
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Health Insurance Plan Regulation Chart
AHIP recently released a convenient one-page chart summarizing health plan regulation at the federal and state levels. You may click on this link to access a printable PDF version of the chart.
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AHIP HI-WIRE – Connecting You to the Health Insurance Industry
Designed to help time-starved professionals like you. AHIP HI-WIRE is the single best source for news and analysis that covers the full health insurance industry. Don't want to visit a Web site every day? AHIP HI-WIRE's dynamic e-newsletter, AHIP HI-WIRE Connection, will continue to be fully customizable and delivered to your inbox.
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An Online Guide to Resolving Health Insurance Disputes
This new site is the first step in establishing a clearinghouse for consumer information about the appeals process for health insurance claims. Over the coming weeks, we will continue to build the website to provide consumers with additional information, including state-specific procedures on how to appeal claims.
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More Featured Spotlights
Our goal is to provide a unified voice for the health care financing industry, to expand access to high quality, cost effective health care to all Americans, and to ensure Americans’ financial security through robust insurance markets, product flexibility and innovation, and an abundance of consumer choice.
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