Spotlight on State
Spotlight on State: Pennsylvania
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 5, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Pennsylvania page. Pennsylvania is a leader in antitrust enforcement of its healthcare provider market with a robust set of review protocol for nonprofit hospital transactions. The state attorney general has oversight authority which requires notice of all nonprofit health entity transactions with review and based on consideration of public interest and antitrust implications. […]
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Spotlight on State: Idaho
Hannah Park, Student Fellow October 4, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Idaho page. Idaho has stepped up its efforts to promote price transparency and control healthcare costs in recent legislative sessions. Signed into law in 2020, the Idaho Patient Act adds transparency to the medical billing process and protects consumers from unfair medical debt collection practices. The state legislature also made a notable effort […]
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Spotlight on State: Hawaii
Hannah Park, Student Fellow September 29, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Hawaii page. Hawaii promotes price transparency by maintaining an All-Payer Claims Database, which collects healthcare claims data from commercial payers, Medicaid, and Medicare. Hawaii also continues to use the Hawaii Health Information Exchange, the state’s private sector non-profit designee for the receipt of federal funds to create a statewide health information exchange that will ultimately […]
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Spotlight on State: Delaware
Hannah Park, Student Fellow and Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor September 21, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Delaware page. Delaware has a long legislative history in healthcare price transparency initiatives. Delaware legislators have authorized the Delaware Health Information Network to develop a centralized health care claims database since 2016. The Delaware Health Care Claims Database collects healthcare claims, enrollment, and provider data from Medicare, Medicaid, and the seven largest commercial health […]
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Spotlight on State: Tennessee
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor September 11, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Tennessee page. The Tennessee Legislature has been active in promoting price transparency in health care. The state passed the Tennessee Right to Shop Act in 2019 to induce consumer price shopping. An insurance carrier is allowed to provide incentives for enrollees who elect to receive a comparable healthcare service from a network provider, for […]
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Spotlight on State: Arkansas
Hannah Park, Student Fellow and Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor September 9, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Arkansas page. Arkansas maintains a statewide all-payer claims database, established under the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative Act of 2015 which mandates collection of medical, dental, pharmacy, and other insurance claims information, including enrollment and provider data, from various entities. Arkansas was also among the first states to recognize the benefits of telemedicine when it […]
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Spotlight on State: Arizona
Hannah Park, Student Fellow August 25, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Arizona page. Arizona is active in promoting price transparency in health care. The state has some protections in place that address surprise billing for emergency services and services from out-of-network providers. This includes creating a solution for settling payment disputes between out-of-network providers and insurers by limiting patients’ liability and allowing for arbitration […]
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Spotlight on State: Utah
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor August 20, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Utah page. Utah was one of the first states to operate an APCD, and claims to be the first to begin tracking and analyzing episodes of care, an important feature of risk-sharing based payment systems for states looking to reduce private payer and Medicaid expenditures. The state also enacted a right to shop […]
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Spotlight on State: Vermont
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor August 17, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Vermont page. Vermont has been active in cost containment and transparency through a number of state planning initiatives, rate and premium control, and the VHCURES all-payer claims database. Most notably, Vermont attempted to be the first state to operate a single-payer healthcare system, Green Mountain Care, in 2011; however, the state gave up on the […]
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Spotlight on State: Minnesota
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor August 12, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Minnesota page. Minnesota’s active legislative efforts aimed to increase healthcare price transparency and cost containment demonstrate the state’s commitment to improve its health care system. A leader in price transparency, the state has an active All-Payer Claims Database (APCD), which has been expanded to study cost, quality, and utilization. The state mandates that […]
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