Healthcare Definitions

The Role of Affordable Care Act Premium Tax Credits in the Payer Industry

January 24, 2023 - The Affordable Care Act marketplace premium tax credits were introduced in 2010 and continue to play an integral role in US health insurance. A Google search on premium tax credits will demonstrate the concept’s intersectionality. Authoritative sites on the topic include the IRS and Healthcare.gov along with other tax and healthcare experts...


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Top 10 Most Expensive Chronic Diseases for Healthcare Payers

by Hayden Schmidt

Chronic diseases are on the rise in the United States, leaving healthcare payers with the challenge of covering care for patients with these expensive, long-term conditions. Chronic diseases are such...

What Are the Pros and Cons of Consumer Driven Health Plans?

by Editorial Staff

Payers have been extending their consumer-driven health plans, also called consumer-directed health plans or CDHPs, as a way to encourage health plan enrollment and save on healthcare costs. Many...

Venture-Funded Medicare Advantage Plans Launch into 2019 Market

by Thomas Beaton

Several Medicare Advantage (MA) plans entering the market for the 2019 plan year are backed by millions in venture capital funding and are planning to compete with established payers by promoting new...

How Payers Can Develop a Medication Therapy Management Program

by Thomas Beaton

As the cost of medication non-adherence reaches over $300 billion annually, payers are increasingly challenged to provide new solutions to address the healthcare and economic impacts of non-adherence....

How Managed Care Payers Can Improve Substance Use Treatment

by Thomas Beaton

Managed care payers can use data analytics, case management strategies, and patient engagement tools to address the needs of high-risk individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs), states a new...

How Payers Can Improve the Value of Long-Term Support Services

by Thomas Beaton

Providing long-term support services (LTSS) impact commercial payers who need to address complications and billions in costs associated with this kind of care. In 2016, the United States spent $92.4...

CPC+ Model Offers Payers Insight into Population Health Management

by Thomas Beaton

CMS’s Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) model may offer lessons and strategies for payers that want to increase primary care efficiency with population health management strategies. The...

How to Curb Adverse Selection in the Individual Health Plan Market

by Thomas Beaton

Maintaining a profitable individual health plan product is already challenging, but adverse selection can create additional problems that impede a payer’s ability to control health plan...

How Can Accreditation Programs Promote Health Plan Value?

by Thomas Beaton

Health plan accreditation programs can help payers highlight offerings that deliver on key quality, efficiency, and beneficiary satisfaction measures. Many health plans currently participate in the...

How Capitated Payments Prompt Payer, Provider Innovation

by Thomas Beaton

The challenges of lowering care costs and improving healthcare quality may lead payers to consider the use of capitated payments as part of their value-based payment model strategies. Capitated...

How Employers Can Design High-Quality Cancer Care Benefits

by Thomas Beaton

Designing meaningful and high-quality cancer care benefits is a challenge for employer-sponsored health plans.   Cancer, a costly and complex condition that takes many different forms, requires...

How to Address Medicare Advantage Beneficiary Disenrollment

by Thomas Beaton

Medicare Advantage is a growing market and an attractive opportunity for payers to offer quality plans to older beneficiaries.  Competition is increasing in the MA environment, and beneficiaries...

How Do Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplemental Insurance Differ?

by Thomas Beaton

Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare supplemental insurance, or Medigap, are both intended to enhance the value of traditional Medicare coverage for seniors and other eligible beneficiaries. Both...

Pros and Cons of Small Business Health Options Program Health Plans

by Thomas Beaton

Health plans offered through the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) exchanges allow payers to provide the nation’s smallest businesses with affordable plan options that offer critical...

Transitional Health Insurance Plays Key Role in Coverage

by Thomas Beaton

Transitional health insurance, otherwise known as a short-term health plan, is a temporary insurance policy intended to provide stop-gap coverage when an individual is in between ACA compliant...

Can Retail Clinics Improve Patient Access, Reduce Costs for Payers?

by Thomas Beaton

Retail clinics are gaining in popularity among patients looking for quick, convenient care for minor ailments. Kiosks and no-appointment-needed offices located in corner pharmacies and big box stores...

Preventing Provider Fraud through Health IT, Data Analytics

by Thomas Beaton

Healthcare fraud is an industry-wide problem can impact a payer’s ability to protect their revenue streams and maintain financial integrity. Fraud costs the nation’s healthcare payers...

Pros and Cons of High Cost Sharing for Employer Health Plans

by Thomas Beaton

Employer-sponsored health plans that include high cost sharing expectations can help control spending for plan sponsors, but could create longer-term health risks for employee beneficiaries....

Assessing Providers for Participation in Value-Based Care Contracts

by Thomas Beaton

Creating strong networks of high-quality healthcare providers can be a major challenge for any payer looking to expand its value-based care contract portfolio. Providers aren’t the only ones...