Federally qualified health centers: An overview
Health center is an all-encompassing term for federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and FQHC look-alikes; they are a key component of the health care safety net that provided care to more than 20 million Americans in 2011. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) has positioned health centers to play a crucial role in the future health …
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Acute care readmission reduction initiatives: Major program highlights
Beginning October 1, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began reducing hospitals’ Medicare payments based on 30-day hospital readmission rates. The reductions are based on hospitals’ 30-day risk-adjusted readmission rates relative to national averages. Penalties are imposed for each hospital’s percentage of potentially preventable Medicare readmissions for those conditions. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act …
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Access to health care in Michigan
Understanding the impact of health care coverage (or the lack of it) on health care access is crucial to improving health care in Michigan. The Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation (CHRT), in partnership with the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) at Michigan State University, surveyed Michigan residents three times (in 2009, 2010, and 2012) on key …
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Primary care capacity and the Affordable Care Act: Is Michigan ready to expand Medicaid coverage?
Since one of the most immediate questions facing the State of Michigan is whether to expand Medicaid coverage, this issue brief focuses specifically on one area of inquiry—Michigan primary care physicians’ capacity to serve new patients in both Medicaid and the private insurance market. In the fall of 2012, the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation (CHRT), in partnership with …
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Affordable Care Act: 2013 implementation timeline
The timeline below details provisions and deadlines for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) scheduled during the 2013 calendar year. Not all dates are set by law and some are subject to change pending the regulatory process. Since its passage in March 2010, many parts of the Affordable Care Act have already taken effect. However, 2013 is a …
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Affordable Care Act funding: An analysis of grant programs under health care reform
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a comprehensive law with the potential to affect the health of Americans in many ways. This issue brief focuses on ACA grants that were awarded during a shortened fiscal year 2010 (March 23, 2010 to September 30, 2010) and fiscal year 2011 (October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011). This brief …
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Intensity-modulated radiation therapy for breast and lung Cancer: A review of use, cost, clinical evidence, and safety
Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is a type of radiation therapy that uses inverse-planning tools to derive beamlets with variable intensities within each beam to deliver highly conformal radiation doses to tumors while reducing radiation doses to healthy tissues. Its ability to reduce the radiation dose to surrounding tissue means that higher doses can be given to tumors without increasing the …
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Medicaid eligibility in Michigan: 40 ways to qualify for government-supported medical assistance
Medicaid Eligibility Before the Affordable Care Act Under federal rules governing the Medicaid program, individual states have broad discretion to expand Medicaid eligibility beyond federally-mandated categories. In Michigan, there are no fewer than 40 different ways to qualify for Medicaid or other government-supported medical assistance. Eligibility requirements vary widely among the eligibility categories, and eligibility determinations are made based on …
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The path to health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act: A flow chart
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), efforts continue at the state and federal levels to prepare for implementation of key provisions of the ACA scheduled to take effect in 2014. These provisions, such as the (now optional) Medicaid expansion, the individual mandate to purchase insurance, state insurance …
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Advance directive registries: A policy opportunity
The most critical health care decisions facing patients and families are often made under the most difficult of circumstances—in emergencies, or when patients are not able to speak for themselves. When patients are unable to communicate their own wishes for treatment, and have not made them known to family or physicians in advance with an advance directive, it is up …
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