2019 Health Care Trends and Critical Success Factors for Health Systems
By Alan Miller
CEO, COPE Health Solutions
By Cindy Ehnes
Executive Vice President, COPE Health Solutions
As 2019 begins, health care plans and provider systems are rightfully perplexed by the clamor of continued Trump Administration efforts to erode the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as the broad, and somewhat conflicting, policy assertions of other transformation initiatives. Examples of conflicting policy assertions are found in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published, “Reforming America’s Healthcare System Through Choice and Competition” where relationships between third party payors and Medicare Advantage (MA) are discussed. Further, the federal court’s ruling in Texas v. Azar declaring the entire ACA unconstitutional in a decision rife with questionable legal analysis, has added to this policy haze with a virtual “Sword of Damocles” hanging over the ACA, commonly referred to as Obamacare. Read article
Five Considerations for Employer Layoffs/Reductions in Force
By Richard S. Cooper, Esq., Member, McDonald Hopkins
By Karina R. Conley, Associate, McDonald Hopkins
With the ups and downs of today’s economy, a company must be prepared to take action, if necessary, to downsize or eliminate sectors of their workforce. During what is an already difficult process, it is important that employers take certain steps to mitigate and minimize any additional risk. Read article
Utah and Idaho Lawmakers Seek To Scale Back Voter-Approved Medicaid Expansions
By Phil Galewitz
Senior Correspondent, Kaiser Health News
Three months after voters in Utah and Idaho defied their recalcitrant state legislatures to expand Medicaid through ballot initiatives, Republican lawmakers in those states are hitting back. Read article
How to Spell Health Care Without R-E-F-O-R-M
By Craig B. Garner
Founder, Garner Health Law Corporation
On December 14, 2018, the Hon. Reed O'Connor issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order in Texas v. United States wherein Judge O'Connor declared the Individual Mandate "unconstitutional" on its own, "inseverable" from the rest of the ACA, and as a result the ACA itself "invalid." Read article