Monday, August 18, 2008

Insurer to pay $225M settlement in Medicaid coverage-denial suit

The Kaiser Network has picked up on a report from Reuters that Amerigroup has settled a qui tam whistleblower suit in which it was accused of denying coverage to Medicaid beneficiaries who were pregnant or had health problems. (Under the law, Amerigroup was obligated to provide coverage for a Medicaid enrollees.)

Amerigroup claims its enrollment practices were intended to meet the objections of state officials that it was enrolling too many women who were late in their pregnancies. A jury rejected that claim and found instead that the insurer had engaged in systemic and wide-ranging fraud. The settlement occurred while Amerigroup's appeal from the 2006 judgment for $334 million was pending. The qui tam relator, former Amerigroup employee Cleveland Tyson, will walk away with a cool $56.3 million, his share of the recovery under the federal civil False Claims Act.

Forget the legal niceties for just a moment. Set aside the company's self-serving statements about needing to put this matter behind them and to move for the good of the company and its shareholders. And postpone thoughts that this sorry episode is a staggering example of the internal conflict of interest that plagues all health insurers.

Think instead of the extent of the human misery Amerigroup caused by denying coverage under this corporate policy. After the judgment was reduced by $109 million as a result of the settlement, it was still the largest health fraud recovery in Illinois' history (see Ill. AG's news release), and deservedly so.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Pediatric DCD in the news

Today The Washington Post has an article -- Infant Transplant Procedure Ignites Debate -- that builds on yesterday's AP article about three cases in which infant hearts were harvested under a "donation after cardiac death" ("DCD") protocol, which all transplant centers are required by UNOS and HHS. The details of each center's protocol may vary.

On the crucial issue of how long to wait before death is declared following the removal of life support and the onset of pulselessness, the Children's Hospital of Denver team waited 75 seconds in two of the cases and 3 minutes in the third; most centers' protocols require either 2 minutes or 5. Part of the ethical debate turns on whether this is long enough to be assured that autoresuscitation won't occur, a key component in determining that the absence of cardiac function is total and irreversible. Not to put too fine a point on it, if autoresuscitation can't be ruled out, irreversibility can't be assured, and if the loss of cardiac function isn't irreversible according to reasonable medical standards, the infant donors can't really be said to have died.

A second part of the debate concerns the removal of hearts from patients who haven't been declared brain dead. Most protocols of which I am aware are limited to kidneys; some include other organs, but I am not aware of any others that permit the harvesting of thoracic organs, hearts in particular. Think about it: If the heart's ability to beat (which is in some sense "intrinsic" because it is not tied to brain function) is supposedly irreversible, how can that be true when the heart (in all three cases) is working perfectly well in other bodies three years later? Two conclusions seem inescapable: The donor babies were erroneously declared dead and the traditional "dead donor rule" was abandoned

The debate was prompted by one clinical report, three Perspective pieces, and an editorial in today's New England Journal of Medicine, plus a videotaped discussion among three ethicists. It's unusual for the NEJM to devote this must space to any single topic. Even more unususal -- and a sign of how seriously they take the issues raised by the clinical report -- is their decision to make all five pieces available in full text (rather than abstracts only) for free:

Clinical report:

Perspectives:

Editorial:

The video discussion is here (requires Flash), along with a transcript.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

"For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health . . . "

How to pick a life partner, 2008-style: "Let's see. . . . Good personality? Check. Kind to small animals and young children? Check. Reasonably communicative and okay with intimacy? Check. Excellent health care insurance? DOUBLE CHECK!!" That's the message in yesterday's New York Times article, Health Benefits Inspire Rush to Marry, or Divorce.

It's a sign of the times. As HLS Prof. Elizabeth Warren has written, "Every 30 seconds in the United States, someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem." (See also her SSRN article on this topic.) Insurance coverage is no guarantee that a person won't financially devastated by illness:

Nobody's safe. That's the warning from the first large-scale study of medical bankruptcy.

Health insurance? That didn't protect 1 million Americans who were financially ruined by illness or medical bills last year.

A comfortable middle-class lifestyle? Good education? Decent job? No safeguards there. Most of the medically bankrupt were middle-class homeowners who had been to college and had responsible jobs -- until illness struck.

As part of a research study at Harvard University, our researchers interviewed 1,771 Americans in bankruptcy courts across the country. To our surprise, half said that illness or medical bills drove them to bankruptcy. So each year, 2 million Americans -- those who file and their dependents -- face the double disaster of illness and bankruptcy.

But the bigger surprise was that three-quarters of the medically bankrupt had health insurance.

How did illness bankrupt middle-class Americans with health insurance? For some, high co-payments, deductibles, exclusions from coverage and other loopholes left them holding the bag for thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs when serious illness struck. But even families with Cadillac coverage were often bankrupted by medical problems.

Too sick to work, they suddenly lost their jobs. With the jobs went most of their income and their health insurance -- a quarter of all employers cancel coverage the day you leave work because of a disabling illness; another quarter do so in less than a year. Many of the medically bankrupt qualified for some disability payments (eventually), and had the right under the COBRA law to continue their health coverage -- if they paid for it themselves. But how many families can afford a $1,000 monthly premium for coverage under COBRA, especially after the breadwinner has lost his or her job?

Often, the medical bills arrived just as the insurance and the paycheck disappeared.

Bankrupt families lost more than just assets. One out of five went without food. A third had their utilities shut off, and nearly two-thirds skipped needed doctor or dentist visits. These families struggled to stay out of bankruptcy. They arrived at the bankruptcy courthouse exhausted and emotionally spent, brought low by a health care system that could offer physical cures but that left them financially devastated.

Considering the overwhelming impact medical debt can have on other aspects of domestic life, is it any wonder that domestic life is occasionally getting bent in ways that are intended (regardless of the prospect for success) to keep the wolf from the door.

As the article points out, divorce is also an option that couples will consider in order to qualify one or the other of them for state-provided benefits. (This is an old Medicaid-planning device.) The example that is in the article is compelling:

Other couples, like Michelle and Marion Moulton, are forced to consider divorce so that an ailing spouse can qualify for affordable insurance.

Ms. Moulton, 46, a homemaker who lives near Seattle with her husband and two children, learned three years ago that she had serious liver damage, a side effect, she believes, of drugs she was once prescribed. She is trying to get on a transplant list, but the clock is ticking; her once slender body has ballooned, and her doctors say her liver could give out at any time.

Mr. Moulton, a self-employed painting contractor, maintains a catastrophic coverage plan for his family, but its high deductibles and unpredictable reimbursements have left them $50,000 in debt. Without better coverage, a transplant could add unthinkable sums.

Two years ago, Ms. Moulton looked into buying more comprehensive coverage through the Washington State Health Insurance Pool, a state-financed program for high-risk patients. She found the premiums unaffordable, but noticed that the state offered subsidies to those with low incomes. As their debts and desperation multiplied, it occurred to Ms. Moulton that divorcing her husband of 17 years would make her eligible for the subsidized coverage.

“I felt like I had done this to us,” she said. “We had worked hard our entire lives, and if this was all the insurance we had, we could become homeless. I just said, ‘You know, we really need to sit down and talk about divorce.’ ”

Mr. Moulton would not consider it — at first. “From a male point of view, you want to be able to fix things, you want to be able to provide,” he said.

“Then you start looking at what things cost and what someone with no assets can get in terms of funding, and you have to start thinking about it.”

The conversations ebbed and flowed with the family’s financial pressures. They talked about the effect on their children and where they might live. They weighed the legal and financial risks against the prospects of bankruptcy.

The debate continued until this summer, when Mr. Moulton’s father offered financial help. “I know we don’t take charity from anyone,” Mr. Moulton told his wife, “but I’m not going to divorce you and I’m not going to let you die.”

Though grateful for the lifeline, the couple remains unsettled by how close they came.

“Nobody should have to make a choice like that,” Ms. Moulton said. “What happened to our country? I don’t remember growing up like this.”

Good question. What happened to our country?

Thursday, August 07, 2008

U.S. health care reform: can 8 out of 10 Americans be wrong?

The latest from The Commonwealth Fund is a report based upon a Harris Interactive survey that sought the opinions of a sample of 1,004 adults about our health care system. Here's a summary of the results:

Overall, the telephone survey of a representative sample of 1,004 adults age 18 and older reveals that the health care delivery system does not serve the public well — eight of 10 respondents say it needs to be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt. Many adults experience difficulties accessing care and poor care coordination, and struggle with the administrative hassles and complexity of health insurance. In addition, the survey found that one of three adults has experienced inefficient or unnecessary care in the past two years. Adults want their health care to be more patient-centered and integrated, and see an important role for information technology and teamwork in improving care. Reflecting these shared concerns, there is strong support for the next president to address health care quality, coverage, and costs.
The data brief and data packs are all available here.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Congresswoman Slams Religious Right's Assault on Science's "Edgier" Side

Scientific American has an on-line interview with Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, who recently published, "Sex, Science and Stem Cells: Inside the Right Wing Assault on Reason" (Congresswoman Slams Religious Right's Assault on Science's "Edgier" Side). Here's their intro:

Six-term Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette owns a dubious distinction: She is one of the two co-authors of the bill that garnered President George W. Bush's first-ever veto.

The subject of the legislation: embryonic stem cells. DeGette, who represents Colorado's 1st District—which includes Denver and its environs—is for them. The president isn't.

On July 19, 2006, President Bush ceremoniously vetoed the bill, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, even though it had passed both the House and Senate by wide margins—though the gaps were not large enough to override a veto. When he signed the veto, the chief executive was surrounded by so-called "snowflake babies," kids born from discarded IVF (in vitro fertilization) embryos that other couples had "adopted" through a Christian agency. These children wouldn't exist, he said, if embryos were used for stem cell research.

These publicity stunts, according to DeGette, have helped kill a wide range of legislation on sex and reproduction: the plan B "morning after" birth control pill, the human papillomavirus vaccine (touted as the best method for preventing cervical cancer), and even sex education—many Republicans advocate abstinence-only instruction.

New Study Looks at Uninsurance Among Immigrants

New Study Looks at Uninsurance Among Immigrants

[from today's Kaisernetwork.org's Daily Health Policy Report]

Although U.S.-born residents still make up the majority of uninsured U.S. residents, the percentage of uninsured documented and undocumented immigrants is growing, according to a study released on Tuesday by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the Kansas City Star reports. EBRI researchers analyzed U.S. Census data for the study and found that immigrants accounted for 18.8% of uninsured residents in 1994 and 26.6% in 2006, the last year in which data were available. According to the study, 12.3 million immigrants and 34.1 million U.S.-born residents were uninsured in 2006.

In 2006, more than 46% of noncitizen immigrants were uninsured, compared with 19.9% of immigrants who gained citizenship and 15% of U.S.-born residents. The study found several factors that contributed to the higher number of uninsured immigrants. Immigrants are more likely to take lower-wage job positions that typically do not offer health insurance benefits, according to the study. In addition, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 contributes to the figures because it mandates that documented immigrants live in the U.S. for five years before they become eligible for government-sponsored health care and other programs. The study also found that the longer immigrants lived in the U.S., the more likely they were to acquire health insurance.

According to the study, 58.7% of uninsured immigrants lived in California, Texas, Florida or New York. The study did not define whether an immigrant was documented or undocumented (Kansas City Star, 8/5). The study is available online (.pdf).

Latest health-related reports from GAO

Electronic Health Records: DOD and VA Have Increased Their Sharing of Health Information, but More Work Remains. GAO-08-954, July 28, 2008 (43 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-954

Emergency Preparedness: States Are Planning for Medical Surge, but Could Benefit from Shared Guidance for Allocating Scarce Medical Resources. GAO-08-668, June 13, 2008 (53 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-668

Hurricane Katrina: Trends in the Operating Results of Five Hospitals in New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina.
GAO-08-681R, July 17, 2008 (56 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-681R

Indian Health Service: IHS Mismanagement Led to Millions of Dollars in Lost or Stolen Property. GAO-08-727, June 18, 2008 (41 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-727

Indian Health Service: Mismanagement Led to Millions of Dollars in Lost or Stolen Property and Wasteful Spending. GAO-08-1069T, July 31, 2008 (10 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-1069T

Influenza Pandemic: Federal Agencies Should Continue to Assist States to Address Gaps in Pandemic Planning. GAO-08-539, June 19,
2008 (47 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-539

Long-Term Care Insurance: Oversight of Rate Setting and Claims Settlement Practices. GAO-08-712, June 30, 2008 (35 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-712

Long-Term Care Insurance: State Oversight of Rate Setting and Claims Settlement Practices. GAO-08-1016T, July 24, 2008 (19 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-1016T

Medicaid Home and Community-Based Waivers: CMS Should Encourage States to Conduct Mortality Reviews for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities. GAO-08-529, May 23, 2008 (49 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-529

Medicare Part B Imaging Services: Rapid Spending Growth and Shift to Physician Offices Indicate Need for CMS to Consider Additional Management Practices. GAO-08-452, June 13, 2008 (49 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-452

Medicare Part D: Complaint Rates Are Declining, but Operational and Oversight Challenges Remain. GAO-08-719, June 27, 2008 (34 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-719

Prescription Drugs: FDA's Oversight of the Promotion of Drugs for Off-Label Uses. GAO-08-835, July 28, 2008 (41 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-835

VA Health Care: Ineffective Controls over Medical Center Billings and Collections Limit Revenue from Third-Party Insurance Companies. GAO-08-675, June 10, 2008 (57 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-675

Veterans Affairs: Health Information System Modernization Far from Complete; Improved Project Planning and Oversight Needed.
GAO-08-805, June 30, 2008 (39 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-805

Veterans Health Administration: Improvements Needed in Design of Controls over Miscellaneous Obligations. GAO-08-1056T, July 31,
2008 (32 pages).
http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-1056T

Texas Attorney General: Charitable Hospital Summit

For those interested in charity care and community benefits in Texas, the Texas Attorney General is hosting a "summit" on Tuesday, September 16, in Austin. The schedule looks pretty good, if a little basic, but it's the Attorney General's office, for crying out loud, and they do have enforcement authority for Health and Safety Code chapter 311 (though it would be nice to know whether the speakers include OAG personnel or members of the private bar):

8:30 AM - Charity Care and the Patient Panel Discussion
Correctly identifying and communicating with charity care patients and formulating effective charity care policies and procedures will maximize the effectiveness of nonprofit hospital charity care programs. This panel will offer options to better communicate with this patient population while educating hospitals on common pitfalls in charity care compliance, suggesting policies to improve documentation and exploring alternatives to help hospitals care for those in greatest need.

9:30 AM - Governance Best Practices
What is your governance strategy? As a board member do you routinely demand and receive specific documents? Do you have a financial management plan? This speaker will capsulize best practices for hospitals; discuss the leading governance trends with a focus on executive compensation; and offer guidance for implementing best practices to be a h5er [sic], healthier organization.

10:15 AM - Break

10:30 AM - Two Concurrent Breakout Sessions

1. What is The True "Cost" of Health Care?
The excessive cost of health care is a topic of considerable focus in America today. This presentation will explore the method of defining the actual "cost" of care through a review of variables used to account for specific costs while offering suggestions as to which of these variables should and should not be included in charity care cost determination.

2. Joint Ventures – Doctor-owned Hospitals Panel Discussion
Hospital-physician joint ventures are a major strategic focus of many nonprofit hospitals. Regardless of the configuration, such ventures can present legal and business risks while providing a healthy choice for both the patients and the hospital. This panel explores the pros and cons of these alternative joint ventures.

11:30 AM - Break

11:45 AM - Keynote Luncheon
The Honorable Greg Abbott, Attorney General of Texas

12:45 PM - Break

1:00 PM - Community Benefits Panel Discussion
In Texas, all nonprofit hospitals are required to prepare community benefit plans based on community needs. The plans must state how the identified community needs will be addressed. Frequently, hospitals do so without an adequate assessment of community needs, clear goals or a defined plan of action. This panel will provide solid "how to" steps to develop and implement a plan of action to enhance the benefits your organization provides within your communities.

1:45 PM - Break

2:00 PM - Health Insurance and its Role in Health Care Delivery and Charitable Hospitals Panel Discussion
Although the American health care system has been said to provide the best quality health care to the majority of our citizens, there is a growing disparity in access to health care because of soaring medical costs, rising insurance premiums, and long term health care insurance spirals. This is particularly true in Texas. This panel will discuss these issues and provide some innovative solutions to these critical concerns.

2:45 pm - Health Care Delivery Trends Panel Discussion
Health care delivery can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. This panel will address recent health care trends, such as retail clinics, and the effect these trends have on more traditional health care models. Are the new models providing a service that was missing in the health care arena? Are these models providing patients with convenient, transparent, affordable access to health care? Or is the retail clinic patient in jeopardy due to the lack of consistency that is offered in the family practice model? This panel will also address the structure, failures and successes of select international delivery models.

3:45 PM - Break

4:00 PM - New Federal Reforms for Charitable Hospitals
The IRS recently completed the largest overhaul of the Organization Exempt Form Income Tax Form 990 tax return in over 25 years providing additional requirements for nonprofit hospitals. Both the IRS and Congress are actively examining how nonprofit hospitals fulfill their public purpose warranting tax-exempt status. Commissioner Miller will give us an overview of how these changes will affect charitable hospitals in Texas.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

What it means to be uninsured in America

The New York Times has an article (Millions With Chronic Disease Get Little to No Treatment) today about the most recent Annals of Internal Medicine survey (abstract) of just exactly what health care services the uninsured with chronic conditions aren't getting. Here's a brief excerpt:

The study, the first detailed look at the health of the uninsured, estimates that about one of every three working-age adults without insurance in the United States has received a diagnosis of a chronic illness. Many of these people are forgoing doctors’ visits or relying on emergency rooms for their medical care, the study said.

The report, based on an analysis of government health surveys of adults ages 18 to 64 years old, estimated that about 11 million of the 36 million people without insurance in 2004 — the latest year of the study — had received a chronic-condition diagnosis.

“These are people who, with modern therapies, can be kept out of trouble,” said Dr. Andrew P. Wilper, the study’s lead author. Therapies for someone with diabetes and hypertension “are routine and widely available, if you have insurance,” said Dr. Wilper, a medical instructor at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The most recent government estimate of the number of people in this country without health insurance is 47 million, which means that if the proportions found in the study have remained constant, there might be nearly 16 million people in this country with a chronic condition but no insurance to pay for medical care.

Nearly a quarter of the uninsured with a chronic illness who were surveyed said they had not visited a health professional within the last year. About 7 percent said they typically went to a hospital emergency room for care.