Are Integrated Plan Providers Associated With Lower Premiums on the Health Insurance Marketplaces?

As the health insurance industry becomes more consolidated, hospitals and health systems have started to enter the insurance business. Insurers are also rapidly acquiring providers. Although these "vertically" integrated plan providers are small players in the insurance market, they are becoming more numerous. The health insurance marketplaces (HIMs) offer a unique setting to study integrated plan providers relative to other insurer types because the HIMs were designed to promote competition. In this descriptive study, the authors compared the premiums of the lowest priced silver plans of integrated plan providers with other insurer types on the 2015 and 2016 HIMs. Integrated plan providers were associated with modestly lower premiums relative to most other insurer types. This study provides early insights into premium competition on the HIMs. Examining integrated plan providers as a separate insurer type has important policy implications because they are a growing segment of the marketplaces and their pricing behavior may influence future premium trends.

Coping With Concentration.

Provider market power is a powerful driver of high health care costs in the United States. Despite decades of antitrust litigation and regulatory interventions, the problem has worsened and threatens to undermine the benefits of market-based policies. A critical but neglected challenge for all health care reform proposals relying on market competition to address costs is finding effective tools to address the extant market power of dominant hospitals, hospital systems, and many specialty physician practices. This article analyzes the principal market-oriented approaches that have been used in the past and proposed for the future. It argues that antitrust law has an important but constrained role to play and has proved to be especially inept in dealing with extant market power. It finds serious deficiencies in the conduct decrees imposed by some courts and in open-ended regulatory regimes such as those established by Certificate of Public Advantage laws. Although not without administrative complications, policies that target providers who possess market power by capping prices may be the most effective means to control costs and retain the benefits of a competitive delivery system.

Telemedicine and the sharing economy: the "Uber" for healthcare.

Telehealth platforms, which include both competitors and complements to traditional care delivery, will offer many benefits for both consumers and clinicians, and may promote increased specialization and competition in service delivery. Traditional medical services providers face a challenge similar to that faced by traditional taxicabs after Uber entered the marketplace: how to compete with a connection services platform that threatens to disrupt existing, regulated, and licensed service providers.

Temporal Analysis of Market Competition and Density in Renal Transplantation Volume and Outcome.

BACKGROUND: Kidney transplant centers are distributed unevenly throughout 58 donor service areas (DSAs) in the United States. Market competition and transplant center density may affect transplantation access and outcomes. We evaluated the role of spatial organization of transplant centers in conjunction with market competition in the conduct of kidney transplantation. METHODS: The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients was queried for market characteristics associated with kidney transplantation between 2003 and 2012. Market competition was calculated using the Herfindahl Hirschman Index. Kidney transplant centers were geocoded to measure spatial organization by the average nearest neighbor (ANN) method. Kidney quality was assessed by kidney donor risk index. A hierarchical negative binomial mixed effects model tested the relationship between market characteristics and annual kidney transplants by DSA. RESULTS: About 152,071 kidney transplants were performed at 229 adult kidney transplant centers in 58 DSAs. Greater market competition was associated with kidney transplant center spatial clustering (P < 0.001). In multivariable analysis, more kidney transplant centers (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.04; P = 0.005), 100 more new listings (IRR, 1.02; P = 0.003), 100 more deceased donors (IRR, 1.23; P < 0.001), 100 more new dialysis registrants (IRR, 1.01; P < 0.001), and higher kidney donor risk index (IRR, 1.98; P < 0.001) were associated with increased kidney transplants. CONCLUSIONS: After controlling for market characteristics, larger numbers of kidney transplant centers were associated with more kidney transplants and increased utilization of deceased donor kidneys. This underlines the importance of understanding geography as well as competition in improving access to kidney transplantation.

Creating value-based medical library services through competitive intelligence

Competitive Intelligence is a management tool that enables top executives make smart, successful and strategic decisions thereby minimizing risk, avoiding being short-sighted, and getting it right the first time. The paper is a review on how the medical library can employ competitive intelligence to enhance their services in the healthcare organization. The paper notes that competitive intelligence will enable Medical Libraries to offer innovative and creative services. The paper concludes that medical librarians and information professionals should be re-positioned to become strategic part ofthe corporate information environment. They must also become more proactive in promoting their services andprojecting their library within their own organization.

To Enroll or Not to Enroll? Why Many Americans Have Gained Insurance Under the Affordable Care Act While Others Have Not. Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Affordable Care Act Tracking Survey, March-May 2015.

According to the most recent Commonwealth Fund Affordable Care Act Tracking Survey, March-May 2015, an estimated 25 million adults remain uninsured. To achieve the Affordable Care Act's goal of near-universal coverage, policymakers must understand why some people are enrolling in the law's marketplace plans or in Medicaid coverage and why others are not. This analysis of the survey finds that affordability--whether real or perceived--is playing a significant role in adults' choice of marketplace plans and the decision whether to enroll at all. People who have gained coverage report significantly more positive experiences shopping for health plans than do those who did not enroll. Getting personal assistance--from telephone hotlines, navigators, and insurance brokers, among other sources--appears to make a critical difference in whether people gain health insurance

Mortalidad en carcinoma pulmonar no microcítico resecado, con tamaño máximo de 3 cm y sin afectación ganglionar: análisis de riesgos competitivos / Mortality in early-stage, surgically resected non-small cell lung cancer less than 3 cm of size: Competing risk analysis

Fundamentos y objetivo: Los estudios de supervivencia en el carcinoma pulmonar no microcítico (CPNM) se basan, habitualmente, en el método de Kaplan-Meier. Sin embargo, otros factores, no contemplados por este método, pueden modificar la observación del suceso de interés. Existen modelos de incidencia acumulativa (IA) que, teniendo en cuenta estos riesgos competitivos, permiten estimaciones más precisas de la supervivencia y valorar el riesgo de muerte por otras causas. Nuestro objetivo es evaluar dichos modelos en pacientes operados de CPNM en estadio precoz. Pacientes y método: Estudio de 263 pacientes resecados de un CPNM con un diámetro ≤ 3 cm y sin afectación ganglionar (N0). Se analizaron variables demográfico-clínicas, morfopatológicas, quirúrgicas, clasificación TNM y evolución a largo plazo. Para el análisis de la IA se consideró suceso competitivo la mortalidad por otra causa. Para el análisis univariante se utilizó el método de Gray, y para el multivariante, el de Fine y Gray. Resultados: La mortalidad por CPNM fue del 19,4% a los 5 años y del 14,3% por otra causa. Ambas curvas se cruzaron a los 6,3 años, siendo la probabilidad de muerte por otra causa mayor a partir de este punto. En el análisis multivariante, condicionaron la mortalidad por cáncer la invasión pleural visceral (IPV) (p = 0,001) y la vascular (p = 0,020), mientras que para la mortalidad por otra causa diferente del cáncer lo fueron la edad > 50 años (p = 0,034), el tabaquismo (p = 0,009) y el índice de Charlson ≥ 2 (p = 0,000). Conclusiones: Mediante el método de IA, la IPV y la invasión vascular condicionaron la muerte por cáncer en CPNM > 3 cm y se determinaron cuáles fueron las causas no tumorales de muerte a largo plazo (AU)

Background and objective: Survival studies of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are usually based on the Kaplan-Meier method. However, other factors not covered by this method may modify the observation of the event of interest. There are models of cumulative incidence (CI), that take into account these competing risks, enabling more accurate survival estimates and evaluation of the risk of death from other causes. We aimed to evaluate these models in resected early-stage NSCLC patients. Patients and method: This study included 263 patients with resected NSCLC whose diameter was ≤ 3 cm without node involvement (N0). Demographic, clinical, morphopathological and surgical variables, TNM classification and long-term evolution were analysed. To analyse CI, death by another cause was considered to be competitive event. For the univariate analysis, Gray's method was used, while Fine and Gray's method was employed for the multivariate analysis. Results: Mortality by NSCLC was 19.4% at 5 years and 14.3% by another cause. Both curves crossed at 6.3 years, and probability of death by another cause became greater from this point. In multivariate analysis, cancer mortality was conditioned by visceral pleural invasion (VPI) (P = .001) and vascular invasion (P = .020), with age > 50 years (P = .034), smoking (P = .009) and the Charlson index ≥ 2 (P = .000) being by no cancer. Conclusions: By the method of CI, VPI and vascular invasion conditioned cancer death in NSCLC > 3 cm, while non-tumor causes of long-term death were determined (AU)

Opportunities and limitations of patient choice: the case of the Russian Federation.

While many countries have increased the opportunities for patient choice of provider, there is debate to what extent this has had positive effects on efficiency and quality of healthcare provision. First, some conditions should be met to exercise such choice, of which the most important is the provision of reliable data on providers' performance to both patients and physicians as their agents, as well as increasing primary health care (PHC) providers' involvement in realization of patient choice. Second, expanding patient choice does not always lead to efficient allocation of resources in a healthcare system. This article explores these controversial developments by using empirical evidence from the Russian Federation. It shows that choice indeed has value for patients, but there are many areas of inefficient choice, which leads to misallocation of healthcare recourses. Thus, health policy in this area should be designed to ensure a reasonable balance between objectives of expanding choice and promoting more efficient organization of healthcare provision. Political rhetoric about unlimited patient choice may be useless and even risky unless supported by well-balanced programmes of supporting and managing choice.

Solving the value equation in health care.

In seeking to foster greater value in health care, Michael Porter and colleagues have advanced ideas for a very different delivery and payment system.

Ser médico... «e iniciar una estancia posdoctoral en Estados Unidos» / Being a physician... "and initiate a post doctorate stay in the USA"

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The experience of Massachusetts shows that consumers will need help in navigating insurance exchanges.

In 2022 twenty-five million people are expected to purchase health insurance through exchanges to be established under the Affordable Care Act. Understanding how people seek information and make decisions about the insurance plans that are available to them may improve their ability to select a plan and their satisfaction with it. We conducted a survey in 2010 of enrollees in one plan offered through Massachusetts's unsubsidized health insurance exchange to analyze how a sample of consumers selected their plans. More than 40 percent found plan information difficult to understand. Approximately one-third of respondents had help selecting plans-most commonly from friends or family members. However, one-fifth of respondents wished they had had help narrowing plan choices; these enrollees were more likely to report negative experiences related to plan understanding, satisfaction with affordability and coverage, and unexpected costs. Some may have been eligible for subsidized plans. Exchanges may need to provide more resources and decision-support tools to improve consumers' experiences in selecting a health plan.

Choosing the 'best' plan in a health insurance exchange: actuarial value tells only part of the story.

In the health insurance exchanges that will come online in 2014, consumers will be able to compare health plans with respect to actuarial value, or the percentage of health care costs that a plan would pay for a standard population. This analysis illustrates the out-of-pocket costs that might result from plans with various plan designs and actuarial values. We find that average out-of-pocket expense declines as actuarial values rise, but two plans with similar actuarial values can produce very different outcomes for a given person. The overall affordability of a plan also will be influenced by age rating, income-related premium subsidies, and out-of-pocket subsidies. Actuarial value is a useful starting point for selecting a plan, but it does not pinpoint which plan will produce the best overall value for a particular person.

Private health insurance: a role model for European health systems.

European health care systems will face major challenges in the near future. Demographic change and technological progress induce rising costs. In order to deal with these developments and to preserve the current level of health care provision, health care systems need to be highly efficient. Yet existing health care systems show a lot of inefficiencies that result in waste of scarce resources. Therefore, improvements in performance are necessary. In this article, we argue that a change in financing health care accompanied by the liberalisation of the market for health care service providers offers a promising solution. We develop a market-based model for financing health care and show how it can be put into practice without generating additional costs for society while meeting social equity criteria.

The structure of risk adjustment for private plans in Medicare.

Medicare bases its risk adjustment method for Medicare Advantage plan payment on the relative costs of treating various diagnoses in traditional Medicare. However, there are many reasons to doubt that the relative cost of treating different diagnoses is similar between Medicare Advantage plans and traditional Medicare, including the varying applicability of care management methods to different diagnoses and the varying degrees of market power among suppliers of services to plans. We use internal cost data from a large health plan to compare its cost of treating various diagnoses with Medicare's reimbursement. We find substantial variability across diagnoses, implying that the current risk adjustment system creates incentives for Medicare Advantage plans to favor beneficiaries with certain diagnoses, but find no consistent relationship between the costliness of the diagnosis and the difference between reimbursement and cost.