So far in this series, we’ve covered the Indian Health Service, the ”638’s” administered by tribes and tribal organizations, and Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance Plan. This week focuses on the Affordable Care Act & the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act. American Indians wishing to buy health insurance in the Health Insurance Marketplace won’t need [...]
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be writing a series on the healthcare matrix for American Indians. I’ll be covering the basics of the Indian Health Service, how Medicaid and Medicare interface with Native Americans, as well as some of the basics of the Affordable Care Act as it relates to American Indians. Let’s [...]
Data collection and analysis is public health’s most valuable renewable resource- which is why we’ve made data analysis such a high priority. Yesterday, the Office of the Inspector General for HHS published a document that highlights the fact that disciplined data analyses can identify key factors that result in poor outcomes- giving us the information [...]
Building Arizona’s inventory of primary care providers has been a priority of ours for many years- and it’s increasingly important as we move toward Medicaid restoration. As one of our many initiatives in our Bureau of Health Systems Development, our Workforce Program hosted a presentation to Physician Assistant students at the NAU Phoenix campus last [...]
The Fed’s issued their final regulations for worksite wellness programs under the Affordable Care Act this week. The final rules are designed to incentivize workplaces to develop and execute health promotion programs. The goal is to improve health and wellness among workers and to limit growth of health care costs moving forward. The regulations outline [...]
A new Ohio State University study found smokers cost businesses about $6,000 more than nonsmokers every year. The researchers used the cost of increased absenteeism, lost productivity, smoke breaks and health care to reach the $6K/year figure – not surprisingly, smoke breaks account for the biggest share of the cost. More and more businesses are creating stronger worksite wellness programs. Arizona, for example, has [...]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a proposed rule this week establishing proposed “Navigator” standards under the Affordable Care Act. Navigators are organizations that will be providing information to consumers about health insurance, the new Health Insurance Marketplace, qualified health plans, and public programs. In other words, Navigators will be providing assistance to [...]
Public Health tracks the number of healthcare workers – physicians, dentists and psychiatrists – to make sure we have enough to take care of the community. In Arizona we’ve been challenged to recruit and keep those professionals – and we have numerous Health Professional Shortage Areas. Just to eliminate the current shortages, we’d need an [...]
The US Dept. of Health & Human Services released 3 new Affordable Care Act proposed regulations this week… including: 1) A proposed Rule regarding coverage requirements for pre-existing or chronic conditions; 2) A proposed Rule outlining policies and standards for coverage of essential health benefits; and 3) A proposed Rule implementing and expanding employment-based wellness [...]
The Fed’s put out a series of pretty simple and easy to read 1-page fact sheets this week that summarize some of the aspects of the Affordable Care Act. There are Fact Sheets for Families with Kids; Health Care Providers; Folks with Disabilities; Seniors; Small Business Owners; and Young Adults. At the bottom of each [...]
