Implementing Mental Health Parity

Click here to check out Milliman's new resource on implementing mental health parity.


Issues covered include:

Deductibles and out of pocket limits
Coordination with EAP services
Separate coverages or benefit packages
How to deal with providers, specialists, primary care
Quantitative vs. non-quantitative benefits (very controversial)
Compliance

More Updates on MBGH's Health Reform Resource Center

Click here to go to MBGH's Health Reform Resource Center to see the latest information posted on:

• Employer uptake on early retiree reinsurance program
• How employers are handling expanding coverage to <27 year olds
• Guidance on Extension of Children's Health Coverage to Age 26
• New resource on health reform provisions that apply to grandfathered plans
• How employers are reacting to Health Reform

And more!! Check back often as the resource center is updated as important information becomes available.

Mercer Reports on How Large Employers Are Reacting to Health Reform

Click here to read results from Mercer's survey of 800 large employers which shows that:

■Early estimates of cost impact range from moderate to severe, with 30% of employers surveyed still in the dark
■Even so, the excise tax on high-cost plans – which doesn’t kick in until 2018 – tops employers’ list of concerns
■Retailers concerned about cost of expanding coverage to more part-timers
■Employers considering several options for offsetting cost of covering adult children
 
Most large employers are waiting unitl their new plan years to implement coverage for <27 year olds. Click here to read an NPR article on this aspect of the survey results.

Pushing for Market-Level Health Plan Performance Reporting

I attended my first NCQA Purchaser Advisory Council today and it was a great meeting. NCQA is addressing the latest in health reform issues, including exchanges, accountable care organizations, relative resource use and furthering its work in wellness/health promotion and medical home. I am excited about the tools and information NCQA is working on, most of which measure and report performance at a plan or vendor level.

But I am struck by the fact that although reporting at the plan or vendor level often works for individual employers, those of us involved in community-level change need this valuable information cut in a different way. For example, health plans in TN report their HEDIS measures at a statewide level. Works for employers that have employees across the state, but does not work for those of us wondering how plans are peforming in Memphis specifically. Another example is the wealth of information that will become available through NCQA's relative resource use reports, which, once again, look at the plan's performance across the entire state.

It is great to know how health plans perform, in general across TN, but it would be even more powerful and actionable to know how they perform in each market in TN. That would tell us more about our own providers and their performance and help identify what we need to improve locally and may even give us hints about how to improve it. Because of contracting methods here in Memphis, where plans contract either with Baptist or Methodist, but generally not with both, we could even begin to understand if there are any real differences in the quality and resource use between our two major hospital systems and their affiliated physicians.

Understanding whether these differences exist between Baptist & Methodist is critical to local employers, and their employees, in knowing where to go for safe, high quality, efficient care.

NCQA is pushing itself to be relevant, vital, and address the current issues that are even more important due to health reform. The next challenge will be how to make this information relevant and usable by communities as well as individual employers. I hope I can bring this perspective to NCQA as I continue to serve on their Purchaser Advisory Council.

More Resources on Grandfathered Plans & Early Retiree Reinsurance Now on MBGH Health Reform Resource Center

Great resources from national experts now uploaded on MBGH's Health Reform Resource Center on our temporary website. Click here to access the following:

Proskauer's presentation on Grandfathered Plans & Exception for Collectively Bargained Agreements (4/29/10)
Groom Law Group chart identifying sections effective for Grandfathered Plans (4/2/10)
Groom Law Group Memo on Interim Final Regulationson Retiree Reinsurance Program (5/6/10)
Buck Consultant's summary of HHS Interim Final Regulations on Retiree Reinsurance Program (5/6/10)
Paul Hasting's "Early Retiree" Retiree Health Insurance Initial Observations & First Guidance (5/4/10)

Check Out New Postings on MBGH's Health Reform Resource Center

Click here for the latest information posted on MBGH's Health Reform Resource Center:

• IRS guidance on tax-free employer-provided heatlh insurance for children under 27
• HHS Releases Regulations on Early Retiree Reinsurance Program from Buck Consultants
• How Will Reform Affect Large Employers? from Jenny Ivy at Benefits Selling
• Employee Benefit News is Establishing Health Reform Study Groups

While on the temporary website, check out the Tobacco Cessation Benefit Tools & Solutions Center & the Diabetes Benefit Tools & Solutions Center. Next new Center will focus on Pharmacy Benefits!!!