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Federal Update   Physician networks and hospital systems can play an important role in driving down health care costs and improving quality of care.  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently released a report titled "Plan Participation in Health Insurance Exchanges: Implications for Competition and Choice" that looks at how consolidation of hospital systems affects the ability of ...

Federal Update   Last month the administration released a final regulation on the Affordable Care Act provision requiring insurers to provide consumers with a brief and easy-to-understand Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC).  ACS CAN believes the regulation is an important step forward in enabling consumers to better understand their coverage and make more informed health care decisions.  As of September 23, 2012, this very valuable tool will be available for the first time during this fall's open enrollment ... consumers to make informed choices.   This week, ACS CAN and 16 other consumer advocacy groups sent a letter to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury commending them for issuing a strong regulation and opposing any further changes. ACS CAN also ...

... as we know it by converting it to a “premium support” model -– essentially a modified and yet-to-be defined voucher program limiting the care Medicare would cover. This could very adversely affect many cancer patients given that half of all new cancer diagnoses involve people over ... for cancer patients. An estimated 9 percent of adults and 25 percent of children with cancer are covered by Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Medicaid also provides treatment to low-income women diagnosed with cancer through the successful National Breast ... cancer screenings to millions of people who would not otherwise get them.   The resolution also proposes deep cuts in domestic spending for health care, some of which is likely to hit cancer research at the National Institutes of Health and cancer prevention and early detection programs ...

... US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published a draft rule that proposes standards for the Multi-State Plan Program (MSPP). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) directs OPM to enter into contracts with private health insurance issuers so that at least two multi-state plans are offered in the new health insurance exchanges beginning in 2014. At least one of the insurers must be a non-profit entity. Insurers   who wish to participate in the ...