Editor’s Comment
UPDATE: Federal Health Insurance Marketplaces: A Conversation with CCIIO Director Gary Cohen
Posted on February 7, 2013
This Update begins with a summary of federal policy guidance on health insurance Marketplaces that has been issued to date. It then presents in its entirety an interview with Gary Cohen, conducted by Professor Sara Rosenbaum of GW on January 29, 2013. The Update concludes with some observations about key issues that will arise as implementation of the federal Marketplace proceeds.
Healthinfolaw.org releases overview of omnibus HIPAA final rule
Posted on February 1, 2013
On January 17, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued an omnibus Final Rule, which modifies the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules, as required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). It also includes changes to the Privacy Rule requires by the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).
The team at Health Information & the Law has written a detailed overview of the Final Rule, which highlights the key changes to the Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules. A longer, more comprehensive analysis piece along with a comparative table of changes included in the Final Rule is forthcoming at their website, HealthInfoLaw.org.
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Tabular Summary of the various voting blocs in the Supreme Court’s ACA decision
Posted on June 28, 2012
Below find a table summarizing the United States Supreme Court decision regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA)…
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GW Legal Barriers Project Launches New Health Information Website
Posted on May 24, 2012
Today researchers at The George Washington University’s Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program launched Health Information and the Law (HealthInfoLaw.org), a website designed to serve as a practical online resource regarding federal and state laws governing access, use, release, and publication of health information. The site addresses the current legal and regulatory framework for health information, as well as changes in the legal and policy landscape that have an impact on health information law and its implementation particularly as health information moves into an electronic phase.
Health Information and the Law will enable cross-state comparisons and analysis of state and federal law on key health information issues, including how the revolution in the creation, collection, and exchange of health information affects…
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Editor’s Comment: Two Years and Counting
Posted on March 29, 2012
March 23, 2012, marked the two-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the Administration’s two years worth of implementation efforts that span the full scope of the law. Major areas of implementation encompass the range of reforms under the Act: improving performance in the private insurance and employer-sponsored health plan markets; strengthening Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP; improving health care access and building a stronger health workforce; improving health care quality and accountability; increasing investments in public health; strengthening health care fraud and abuse controls; and reforming federal policies applicable to tax-exempt hospitals.
Health Reform GPS reported on the first year of implementation efforts here. This updated table includes both year-one and year-two key agency implementation actions. Year-two actions appear in italics.
ACA implementation efforts in Year Three can be expected to reach more deeply into the core of the reforms. Among other topics…
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Legal Challenges to the Affordable Care Act: Tabular Summary of Supreme Court Amicus Briefs
Posted on March 26, 2012
The table below summarizes all of the amicus briefs filed to date. HealthReformGPS has posted summaries for at least one of the briefs filed by the bolded amici below…
Editor’s Comment: One Year and Counting
Posted on March 23, 2011
March 23, 2011, marks the one-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and the Administration’s first year implementation effort spans the full scope of the law. Major areas of implementation encompass the full range of reforms under the Act: improving performance in the private insurance and employer-sponsored health plan markets; strengthening Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP; improving health care access and building a stronger health workforce; improving health care quality and accountability; increasing investments in public health; strengthening health care fraud and abuse controls; and reforming federal policies applicable to tax-exempt hospitals.
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Editor’s Comment: The Thomas More Decision- Finding the Constitutional in Health Reform
Posted on October 12, 2010
After a spring and summer of warm-up action in multiple courts, the first judicial verdict is in: health reform is constitutional. In Thomas More v Barak Hussein Obama (Case No. 10-CV 11156, E.D. Mich., October 7, 2010), Judge George Steeh quickly disposed of plaintiffs’ claims that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional.
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Editor’s Comment: GOP Promises to Repeal and Replace Affordable Care Act in “Pledge to America”
Posted on October 8, 2010
On September 23, 2010, Congressional Republicans released a document entitled “A Pledge to America” to help voters in November better understand their position on a broad set of policy issues. Featured in the document, is a pledge to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), and replace it with “common-sense solutions focused on lowering costs and protecting American jobs.”
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Editor’s Comment: ERISA Now and Forever
Posted on September 27, 2010
Enacted to secure the nation’s private pension system, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) has become a pillar of U.S. health policy because of the legal framework it establishes for employer-sponsored group health benefit plans. Even as it creates crucial protections for workers and their families, ERISA simultaneously diminishes the power of states to regulate employee health benefits. Furthermore, the law curtails the legal rights of patients who experience death or injury as a result of the negligence or misconduct of health benefit plan administrators. The Affordable Care Act preserves the ERISA framework, expanding the federal standards applicable to employee health benefit plans while preserving the law’s shielding effects against state regulation and health plan liability. A major unanswered question under the Act remains how the ERISA shield will affect the rights of patients whose employers purchase coverage through state Exchanges.
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- State Health Insurance Exchange Navigators posted on February 28, 2011
- The QHP Certification Process in Federally-Facilitated Exchanges: Network Adequacy and Essential Community Providers posted on March 27, 2013
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