/PRNewswire/ -- The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act -- a largely overlooked component of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- has the potential to transform long-term care financing in the United States from a welfare-based to an insurance-based system, according to the latest issue of Public Policy & Aging Report (PPAR).
With funding from The SCAN Foundation, this installment of PPAR features seven articles that recount the origins of the CLASS Act, analyze the legislation's key provisions, and explore potential hurdles of implementation.
"We consider this issue of PPAR to represent the best of what the publication has to offer," said PPAR Editor Robert Hudson, PhD, chair of the Department of Social Policy at the Boston University School of Social Work. "It is timely, informed, and cutting edge. It goes beyond the headlines and delivers detailed accounts of the emergence of the CLASS Act to a broad audience of policy and academic leaders."
The CLASS Act introduces a voluntary, federally administered insurance program designed to provide middle-class Americans the new choice to plan ahead for personal care and supportive service needs in the face of functional impairment. Enrolled individuals no longer will have to be demonstrably poor or spend themselves into poverty to receive long-term care protection.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at least 70 percent of Americans over the age of 65 will need long-term care services at some point in their lives.
"CLASS is about allowing working Americans to take personal responsibility for planning ahead so they can age with dignity and independence," said Bruce Chernof, MD, president and CEO of The SCAN Foundation. "CLASS enrollees will have the power to choose the services they want in the setting most appropriate to their needs."
The current issue of PPAR, published by the National Academy on an Aging Society, is available for purchase at www.agingsociety.org. The authors include Lisa Shugarman, PhD, of The SCAN Foundation; Joshua Wiener, PhD, of RTI International; Walter Dawson of Oxford University; Barbara Manard, PhD, of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging; Anne Tumlinson, MMHS, of Avalere Health; Rhonda Richards of AARP; and Kathryn Roberts, PhD, of Ecumen.
More information about the individual grantees and The SCAN Foundation can be found at www.thescanfoundation.org.
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Showing posts with label patient care. Show all posts
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Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
On-Line Petition Launched in Support of a National Health Insurer Code of Conduct
(BUSINESS WIRE)--In an effort to ensure and protect patient access to approved medical treatments, a petition in support of a Health Insurer Code of Conduct was launched today by the Alliance for Patient Access (AfPA). The petition calls for the adoption of a Code of Conduct, currently being drafted by the American Medical Association, which will address restrictive practices of the managed care industry which undermine the integrity of doctor-patient relationships.
The AMA House of Delegates passed a resolution in November of 2008 to draft and adopt a National Health Insurer Code of Conduct. According to the resolution, the AMA code will set forth clear and concise principles addressing both medical policies and payment issues, as well as create a mechanism to monitor compliance by managed care companies.
Currently, while many managed care organizations maintain appropriate focus on quality measures, some managed care plans and pharmacy benefit managers employ aggressive tactics to cut costs, while at the same time shifting blame for consequences of actions such as premium increases and cost-sharing strategies onto other parties in the healthcare industry.
“In Georgia, the cost-control efforts implemented by managed care health plans have created the widespread perception that such plans are more interested in saving money than providing quality health care,” said Dr. Christina Mayville, a neurologist in Macon, GA. “Unlike many other stakeholders in the health care industry, however, there is no overarching standard of conduct for health plans. The Alliance for Patient Access is taking the lead to collect support for a Code of Conduct to empower health plans to voluntarily agree to abide by principled guidelines and specific protocols regarding certain issues that are particularly prone to abuse.”
AfPA’s petition calls for autonomy between doctors and managed care companies, as well as full transparency regarding a patient’s prescribed course of care. This includes any relationships with outside parties that might influence doctors’ decisions. AfPA also calls for upholding business integrity, with fees reflecting acceptable rates and prescribed courses of treatment resulting from medically-based, not fiscally-driven, decisions. Finally, AfPA’s first priority remains patients’ access to quality medical care that ensures their safety and welfare.
“A Code of Conduct for the managed care industry is highly overdue,” said Dr. David Charles, AfPA Chairman. “The petition is a way for us to show managed care companies that we will not stand by as they attempt to interfere with the course of treatment prescribed to patients by their doctors. A Health Insurer Code of Conduct will help protect patients by regulating the practices of managed care companies and holding them accountable to the same standards to which the rest of the healthcare industry already adheres.”
The American Medical Association (AMA) passed a resolution in November 2008 to adopt a Health Insurer Code of Conduct, which it is currently drafting. The AMA will vote to adopt the code in June.
The AfPA petition for a Health Insurer Code of Conduct can be found at www.insurepatientaccess.org.
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The AMA House of Delegates passed a resolution in November of 2008 to draft and adopt a National Health Insurer Code of Conduct. According to the resolution, the AMA code will set forth clear and concise principles addressing both medical policies and payment issues, as well as create a mechanism to monitor compliance by managed care companies.
Currently, while many managed care organizations maintain appropriate focus on quality measures, some managed care plans and pharmacy benefit managers employ aggressive tactics to cut costs, while at the same time shifting blame for consequences of actions such as premium increases and cost-sharing strategies onto other parties in the healthcare industry.
“In Georgia, the cost-control efforts implemented by managed care health plans have created the widespread perception that such plans are more interested in saving money than providing quality health care,” said Dr. Christina Mayville, a neurologist in Macon, GA. “Unlike many other stakeholders in the health care industry, however, there is no overarching standard of conduct for health plans. The Alliance for Patient Access is taking the lead to collect support for a Code of Conduct to empower health plans to voluntarily agree to abide by principled guidelines and specific protocols regarding certain issues that are particularly prone to abuse.”
AfPA’s petition calls for autonomy between doctors and managed care companies, as well as full transparency regarding a patient’s prescribed course of care. This includes any relationships with outside parties that might influence doctors’ decisions. AfPA also calls for upholding business integrity, with fees reflecting acceptable rates and prescribed courses of treatment resulting from medically-based, not fiscally-driven, decisions. Finally, AfPA’s first priority remains patients’ access to quality medical care that ensures their safety and welfare.
“A Code of Conduct for the managed care industry is highly overdue,” said Dr. David Charles, AfPA Chairman. “The petition is a way for us to show managed care companies that we will not stand by as they attempt to interfere with the course of treatment prescribed to patients by their doctors. A Health Insurer Code of Conduct will help protect patients by regulating the practices of managed care companies and holding them accountable to the same standards to which the rest of the healthcare industry already adheres.”
The American Medical Association (AMA) passed a resolution in November 2008 to adopt a Health Insurer Code of Conduct, which it is currently drafting. The AMA will vote to adopt the code in June.
The AfPA petition for a Health Insurer Code of Conduct can be found at www.insurepatientaccess.org.
-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
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Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Tyrone
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
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