MHA Today is provided as a service to members of the Missouri Hospital Association. Additional information is available online at MHAnet. In This Issue Senate Gives First-Round Approval To Tort Reform Measure House Advances Newborn Screening Bill Uninsured Rate Drops To Record Low MHA Distributes Wage Index, Occupational Mix Data For Review Aetna/Humana Calls Off Merger
UPCOMING EDUCATIONAL OFFERING Leading Utilization Review Practices From Access To Exit Thursday, March 9 Columbia, Mo.
Advocate state and federal health policy developments
Staff Contacts: Daniel Landon or Rob Monsees The Missouri Senate has given first-round approval to Senate Bill 237. It would revise medical liability law to reverse the Jefferson v. Missouri Baptist court ruling. The effect will be to narrow hospital liability for those who are not hospital employees. After more than six hours of debate, the Senate considered various amendments and adopted two. MHA supports the final version. Back To Top
Staff Contact: Daniel Landon The state House of Representatives has approved House Bill 66, which adds spinal muscular atrophy and Hunter syndrome to the list of rare genetic and metabolic disorders for which newborn blood screening tests will be done. The bill now moves to the state Senate. Back To Top
Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler According to a new study from the National Center for Health Statistics, the uninsured rate has decreased slightly to 8.8 percent between January to September 2016. This represents a reduction of 20.4 million uninsured individuals since 2010. The uninsured rate in Medicaid expansion states in 2015 was 9.3 percent as compared to non-Medicaid expansion states of 17.5 percent. The state of California realized the largest decrease in uninsured between 2015 and the first 9 months of 2016, decreasing form 11.1 percent to 9.3 percent. These results are based on 38 states that used the 2016 National Health Interview Survey. Back To Top
Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released revised public-use files that will be used to develop the federal fiscal year 2018 Medicare wage index. Hospitals can review their hospital-specific data and request any revisions until Friday, Feb. 17. Requests and supporting documentation for revisions should be directed to the Medicare Administrative Contractor. Requests for revisions are limited to error corrections in the Jan. 30 public use file or for revisions of desk review adjustments to wage index data. MHA has posted the files to HIDI Analytic Advantage® for review. Back To Top
Noteworthy
Staff Contact: Jane Drummond Aetna and Humana have called off their proposed merger following a Jan. 23 trial court decision to deny the transaction based on its anticompetitive effects in the Medicare Advantage market. Despite initial indications that they would appeal the ruling, the companies will instead allow the merger agreement to expire on Wednesday, Feb. 15. Aetna, which had entered into an agreement to divest some of its Medicare Advantage assets to Molina Healthcare, Inc., will pay termination fees associated with that deal, as well as approximately $630 million in after-tax breakup fees to Humana. Back To Top
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