Health Care Reform

Issues and Answers: an informational series for hospital leaders 

• Summaries and Overview
  • Health Care Reform - First Anniversary Edition (3/23/11)
  • One Year Later: The Long and Winding Road to Health Care Reform (Message on Maryjane Wurth's blog)
  • Health Care Reform in the Immediate Future - 2011 Implementation (1/3/11)
  • Implementing Health Care Reform: Challenges and Opportunities for Illinois Hospitals (August 2010)
    IHA Task Force on Health Care Reform's summary designed to help Illinois hospital leaders find answers to important questions.
  • Timeline of Selected Key Events on Implementation of Health Care Reform Provisions: 2010-2015
  • Estimating the Coverage Impact of Federal Health Reform
    • Coverage Expansion Benefit Calculator: Line-by-Line Instructions
    • Estimator Model
    • Audio: IHA Conference Call on Estimator (wav. file - runs 26 minutes)
  • Health Care Reform: What Does It Mean? (PowerPoint)
• Accountable Care Organizations
  • CMMI Announces Pioneer ACO Model (May 2011)
  • Antitrust Enforcement (May 2011)
  • Issues in Governance & Tax Exemption (May 2011)
  • Proposed Rule Issued on Accountable Care Organizations (4/15/11)
  • The Essentials of Accountable Care Organizations (11/5/10)
• Legal Issues
  • Waiver of Fraud & Abuse Laws Under Medicare Shared Savings Program (May 2011)
  • Program Integrity Provisions (June 2010)
• Insurance
  • Health Care Reform Insurance Changes Effective Sept. 23, 2010
• Tax-Exemption
  • Section 501(c)(3) Requirement: Community Health Needs Assessments (7/13/11)
  • Tax-Exempt Provisions of Health Reform (April 2010)
• Value-Based Purchasing
  • Medicare Value-Based Purchasing Program: Final Rule Issued (June 2011)
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • CMS Proposed Rule on Value-Based Purchasing Program (2/1/11)
  • Questions and Answers on Value-Based Purchasing

Comment Letters and Testimony

• ACOs
  • IHA Letter to CMS on ACO Proposed Rule (6/3/11)
    • Sample Comment Letter on ACO Proposed Rule (Word doc)
  • IHA Letter to CMS on ACOs (pdf - 12/3/10)
• Health Insurance Exchange
  • Letter to Rep. Mautino re: Illinois Insurance Exchange (11/6/11)
  • Funding the Illinois Health Benefits Exchange (10/6/11)
  • Health Insurance Reforms and the Establishment of an Exchange (8/30/11)
• Value-Based Purchasing
  • CMS 3239-P: Medicare Program - Hospital Inpatient Value-Based Purchasing Program Proposed Rule (3/7/11)
  • Medicare Value-Based Purchasing Proposed Rule Hospital Sample Comment Letter (Word document)
• Testimony Submitted to Illinois Health Care Reform Implementation Council
  • IHA Comments on Health Reform Implementation Council Recommendations (2/7/11)
  • IHA Recommendations on Implementing Health Reform in Illinois (pdf - 12/3/10)
  • Medicaid Reforms (pdf - 11/16/10)
  • Incentivizing Delivery System Reforms to Improve Quality and the Use of Health Information Technology (pdf - 10/20/10)
  • Health Care Reform and Workforce Development/Retention (pdf - 10/5/10)
  • Health Insurance Reforms and the Establishment of an Exchange (pdf - 9/22/10)
    • IHA on Establishing an Insurance Exchange in Illinois (pdf - 12/3/10)
    • IHA Comments on Health Care Reform Exchange (pdf - 10/4/10)

Resources

• ACO Proposed Rules: Establishing an ACO to Participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (two-part webinar series presented by Drinker Biddle)
  These webinars, held on April 13 and 20, explored the proposed requirements for ACOs to participate in Medicare's Shared Savings Program. Further information, including the podcast and presentation materials, are available by clicking on the following webinar dates:
  • April 13, 2011
  • April 20, 2011
• Comments: IRS Request for Comments on Health Reform Tax Exemption
• Community Health Needs Assessment - New requirement for 501(c)(3) hospitals
  List of free guides and data resources
• Grant, Demo and Pilot Opportunities
  Tool developed for members to help you assess potential opportunities for participation in federal grants, demonstrations and pilots under the new health care reform law. By using the tool, you can click on a link to directly view the specific page related to that grant, demo or pilot in the consolidated print version of the health reform laws.
  • Tool in Microsoft Office Excel 2007
  • Tool in Microsoft Office Excel Older Version
• Summary of Key Rural Provisions in Health Care Reform (3/30/10)
• Summary of Health Care Reform Legislation (PowerPoint)

Hospital-Physician Alignment

• Key Law Impacting Hospital-Physician Alignment (4/5/10)
  Background on complying with the main laws that affect alignment.

Hospital-Physician Relations: Past Educational Program Material

• Clinical Integration: A Model for Uniting Hospitals and Physicians with Payors and Patients