Health Care on the Brink of the Fiscal Cliff November 16, 2012 Event The Alliance for Health Reform and the Kaiser Family Foundation present a November 16 briefing to discuss the components of this key policy crossroads with a particular emphasis on the implications for health programs and the health care industry. Automatic cuts would not apply to Medicaid, but Medicare providers would…
How Five Leading Safety-Net Hospitals Are Preparing For The Challenges and Opportunities of Health Care Reform August 1, 2012 Report This study, published in the journal Health Affairs, examines how five leading safety-net hospitals are preparing for major changes expected to result from the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including less government support for uncompensated care and the need to compete for newly insured people. The hospitals studied are Bellevue Hospital…
Community Health Centers: Can They Plug the Gaps in the Safety Net? July 23, 2012 Event The Alliance for Health Reform and the Centene Corporation sponsored a July 23 briefing to discuss the role of community health centers (CHCs) in providing care to vulnerable populations as employer-sponsored coverage declines and demand for safety-net services increase. Panelists addressed questions such as: How are states and safety-net systems…
The Health of Safety-Net Hospitals: How are They Faring? What’s the Outlook? June 4, 2012 Event The Alliance for Health Reform and The Commonwealth Fund discusses the critical role of safety-net hospitals in providing care to vulnerable populations. Panelists will explore such questions as: Who does the safety-net system currently serve and how will this patient mix change as the health reform law plays out? How…
Medicaid and Community Health Centers: The Relationship Between Coverage for Adults and Primary Care Capacity in Medically Underserved Communities March 1, 2012 Issue Brief Community health centers play an important role in providing care to uninsured and low-income individuals living in medically underserved communities. They rely on many different revenue sources and, over time, Medicaid has become a central source of funding for most health centers. To better understand how Medicaid influences health center…
Medicaid Innovations: Can Managed Care Cut Costs and Improve Value? October 28, 2011 Event A number of states have expressed interest in expanding managed care approaches within their Medicaid programs. While managed care may present an opportunity for better delivery of care, it presents challenges within certain populations and geographic areas. How many states are planning Medicaid managed care expansions? What impact would these…
Inside Deficit Reduction: What It Means for Medicare October 11, 2011 Event Proposals to generate Medicare savings abound, from the various commissions recommending change, members of Congress and others. Which proposals will, or should receive serious considerations by the Congressional super committee in its quest to find $1.2 trillion or more in savings by its November 23 deadline? What impact would these…
Inside Deficit Reduction: What it Means for Health Care September 12, 2011 Event After much heated debate on the U.S. debt limit, the Budget Control Act of 2011 was passed on August 2, 2011, containing more than $900 billion in federal spending reductions over 10 years. The law also established the 12-person “super committee” charged with finding more than $1 trillion in additional…
Making Ends Meet: The Medicare Generation June 1, 2011 Video This short Kaiser Family Foundation documentary profiles the experiences of three Medicare families trying to pay for their health care costs with other household spending. The families are among 16 featured in a companion report examining the role Medicare now plays in the lives of beneficiaries and the challenges many…
Ensuring Access to Care in Medicaid Under Health Reform May 30, 2011 Issue Brief This paper examines the key issues raised in a December 2010 roundtable discussion of federal and state officials and experts convened by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured to examine important issues related to ensuring access to care in Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act…