Long-Term Care: Where Are We and What’s Next?

This webinar will orient audience members to the current landscape of the long-term care delivery system, its funding mechanisms, and the state and federal legislation that model this system. Panelists will discuss and offer insights about potential solutions to create an accessible and financially sustainable long-term care system.

Summit: Navigating the Frontiers of Innovation and Value

During this summit, keynote speakers and panel experts explore the latest advancements and the remaining challenges in the health care value and innovation space, as well as policy solutions to support groundbreaking initiatives.

Modernizing Medicare Part D

During this congressional lunch briefing, analysts will outline the mechanisms of the Medicare Part D program under current law and discuss the potential implications of reforms put forward by Congress and the administration.

Examining the Continuum of Coverage Proposals

During this congressional lunch briefing, health policy experts will explore the spectrum of policy proposals that achieve universal health coverage in the United States.

Fall 2019 Legislative and Regulatory Outlook

During this webinar, analysts discussed the outstanding legislative and regulatory activities that Congress and the administration are likely to pursue before the end of the year.

Coverage and Affordability in the Private Insurance Market

This briefing highlighted policy options to promote health care coverage and affordability through the individual health insurance market. Our panel discussed trends in commercial health insurance enrollment and affordability.

Addressing the Drivers of Maternal Mortality

This briefing identified policies to prevent pregnancy-related deaths and address the forces resulting in the disproportionate maternal health outcomes. Panelists discussed policy options that support interventions among providers and public health entities to address the clinical and social drivers of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity.

Basics of Biosimilars

During this briefing, panelists explained the mechanisms of biologic drugs, explore the impact of current regulations on the uptake of biosimilars, and discuss considerations for the biosimilars market in the United States.

Congressional Briefing on Aging in America

This briefing is the last event in our 2018 Signature Series and we will explore the unique health and social needs of older adults and how to develop age-friendly communities that give aging Americans convenient access to all of the services they need.

Summit on Aging in America

During this summit, panelists explored how we can reframe the conversation around aging in America and discussed opportunities to improve health outcomes for older adults. Speakers discussed innovative payment models and approaches to integrating non-medical needs into those models as well as upcoming policy and regulatory priorities.

Health Care in the Courts

This webinar examined the landscape of impending health policy legal decisions, including constitutional challenges to the ACA, disputes surrounding risk corridor programs, challenges to Medicaid program work requirements, and disputes around Medicaid expansion ballot initiatives.

Prescription Drug Costs: Can Increased Competition Restrain Prices?

This webinar will focus on the first approach and will explore different perspectives on how increasing the number of generic and biosimilar options may affect the drug pricing market. Specifically, panelists discussed the main opportunities and challenges of the generic and biosimilar market, how past administrations have approached this issue, and how different stakeholders, including consumers, are impacted.

Summit on Health Care Costs in America

The conversation on health care costs in America is decades old, yet progress has been elusive. Terms like sustainability, affordability, and value are set forward as goals, but perspectives on how to achieve them vary widely. Speakers and panelists will provide insights on current and projected health care cost trends, what different stakeholders hope to achieve, and new approaches to consider.

State Opportunities to Address Prescription Drug Costs in Medicaid

The purpose of this briefing was to orient federal policymakers and stakeholders to the legislative and regulatory actions that state officials are perusing to address the rising cost of prescription drugs in Medicaid. Panelists outlined the rationale for these actions, detailed the mechanisms of state policies, and described opportunities to leverage flexibility within federal parameters.

Competition and Consolidation: Understanding Recent Trends in the Health Care Market

This is the first webinar, part of the Beyond the Beltway: Health Webinars for Journalists series, focused on the implications and tradeoffs of the recent trends in the health care market. Panelists helped define the basics of market concentration and competition, how experts measure the effects on different areas of the market, and how regulators approach assessing partnership proposals.

Healthy Aging and Immunizations

This purpose of this briefing was to review the value of immunizations for aging adults, highlight factors that impact access to immunizations, and provide a review of coverage for adult vaccines under public and private insurance.

What’s Next for Medicare Provider Payment?

The goal of this briefing was to provide an update on MACRA implementation, the issues on the table as policymakers consider next steps around shifting the way providers are paid, by both public and private payers, and what this all means for improving health outcomes and quality.

Navigating Next Steps on Payment Reform

This briefing provided an update on the overall state of play with payment reform, and the effort to move away from fee for service and toward value-based payment. Panelists discussed the interplay between the public and private sectors, and, given likely future directions for the CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, highlighted areas where the private sector may be best positioned to lead. Panelists shared what this means for future policy options and needs.

Marketplace Open Enrollment Preview

This webinar unpacked the knowns and unknowns heading into the upcoming Affordable Care Act marketplace open enrollment period that begins on Nov. 1.

Measuring Quality for Person-Centered Accountable Care

New payment and delivery system models for Medicare, Medicaid and private coverage rely on accurate quality measures to improve care for patients. The Alliance held an in-depth briefing on what it means to design “person-centered” quality measures, and how the patient perspective can be used to improve how care is delivered to patients with complex needs.

Chronic Pain & Opioid Addiction: The Role of Integrated Care

The opioid addiction crisis has thrown a spotlight on the physical and behavioral health issues surrounding chronic pain. This briefing examined innovative non-pharmacologic models to address chronic pain, including among the military and veteran population and through state Medicaid and safety net programs.

New Administration, New Approach to Medicaid Waivers?

This webinar gave attendees an understanding of the Medicaid waiver landscape heading into a busy fall, when precedent-setting decisions are expected on several states’ proposals. Speakers discussed the kinds of flexibility states have asked for – and are likely to ask for in the coming months and years – and how these changes may affect Medicaid beneficiaries, state budgets, and the future of the ACA coverage discussion.

Understanding What’s Next for Medicaid

This briefing examined the real-world implications of proposed policy changes to Medicaid and the impact on populations such as children, the disabled, and those who need long-term services and supports.

Where Medicaid Stands: From the AHCA to State Waivers

This webinar focused on how the AHCA would impact states and Medicaid beneficiaries, how a system of per capita caps would work, what we learned from the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, and how states might respond to new waiver flexibility from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. We examined these issues from both the federal and state perspective, and from the perspective of reporters covering this important issue.

What’s In Store for Medicaid

Medicaid programs could see dramatic changes this year and beyond, even if the effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act continues to stall. Several states are taking a fresh look at expanding Medicaid under the ACA, while others are considering waivers under a new administration that will be receptive to experimentation. This briefing for journalists looked ahead at actions that may be taken by Congress, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the states.

The Future of Health Insurance: Medicaid Moving Forward

This is the third of four panels from our Future of Health Insurance Summit. There is considerable interplay between Medicaid/CHIP and the individual market. How will changes to these programs affect private insurance and how will coverage for low-income people be affected?

The Future of Health Insurance: The State of Play

This is the first of four panels from our Future of Health Insurance Summit. As policymakers debate major changes to the insurance system, what are the issues and approaches on the table, and what might come up this year?

What’s Next for Health Policy?

This webinar looked ahead at the issues surrounding U.S. health care and at potential changes that Congress, the Trump administration, and the states will be likely to adopt in the coming months and years.

Medicaid Moving Forward

This briefing examined the state of play for Medicaid and policy approaches moving forward. Our panel addressed how states and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may respond to the new landscape, as Congress shifts its focus away from health care.

Investing in a Healthier America: The Role of Social Determinants

This briefing examined the challenges of aligning or combining public funding sources to achieve better health outcomes, how analysts can prove value in such ventures, and the role of health care professionals in caring for patients who have both medical and non-medical needs.

Post-Election Symposium: Health Care Policy in 2017

The Alliance hosted a post-election, half-day symposium previewing critical 2017 health care policy issues, one of the first major gatherings of the health care policy community after the 2016 election.

Medicare and Prescription Drug Prices

This briefing featured presentations by our experts highlighting the trends in Medicare regarding prescription drug pricing, and panelists discussed an array of policy options to align drug prices with value through alternative payment models.

Health Care for Veterans: Where Things Stand & Next Steps

This briefing provided an introduction to the VA health system, presented an overview of how the VA acts as both provider and purchaser of care, and discussed policy prospects for the future. Speakers also assessed the potential for increased collaboration between civilian care and VA providers to meet the needs of today’s veterans and those of the future.

Open Enrollment Preview: Checking the Vitals of the Marketplaces

The Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces rely on robust competition to control costs and to provide consumer choice. But the decisions of several large insurers to scale back their 2017 marketplace participation, and the failure of many health insurance co-ops will leave marketplace shoppers in many states with fewer choices than they had in 2016. Furthermore, those insurers remaining in the exchanges have often found their marketplace customers to be less healthy than they projected, and they are raising premiums in response. Our briefing focuses on these trends, what they mean for the long-term viability of the marketplaces, and what public policy steps can be taken to bring more healthy people into the risk pool and to encourage insurer participation in the individual market.

Assessing Innovations in Medicaid

Medicaid is testing numerous new alternative payment and delivery system models to enhance the coordination of the health care services provided to millions of low-income Americans. This briefing examined the range of Medicaid’s efforts to improve care and promote value, including integrating health with non-clinical and behavioral services, creating managed care organizations, and instituting regional care collaborative organizations. Our panel also addressed Medicaid’s role in managing emerging issues such as the opioid epidemic and the spread of the Zika virus.

High-Need, High-Cost Patients: Challenges & Promising Models

Health systems have applied many innovative new strategies for improving quality and reducing costs when it comes to care for high-need, high-cost patients, who typically have multiple chronic conditions. Which of these innovations show promise, and what can we learn from them?

Zika Virus: Control, Monitoring, and Prevention

At our briefing for reporters at the National Press Club, NIH’s Anthony Fauci provided an update on the state-of-play of the Zika virus in the U.S. A panel representing federal, state and local officials then discussed details of how the response will be coordinated and where resources are needed.

Trends in Coverage and Affordability on the ACA Marketplaces

In advance of the fourth open enrollment period for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which begins Nov. 1, this briefing examined who has gained coverage, who remains uninsured, and why uninsured individuals have not obtained coverage. Speakers also discussed marketplace stability, factors driving premium trends, and the outlook for 2017 premiums. In addition to insights from our panelists, this briefing included a discussion of survey results from The Commonwealth Fund ACA Tracking Survey and what it tells us about consumers’ experiences with the marketplaces.

MACRA: Stakeholder Considerations and Next Steps

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently closed the public comment period for its proposed rule to implement the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). This means that Medicare will soon change its payment system for physicians, and there could be broad implications for physicians, health systems, health plans, consumers and others.

Briefing for Reporters on MACRA & Medicare Payments

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) closed on June 27 the public comment period for its proposed rule implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). This means that Medicare will soon change its payment system to emphasize value over volume, and physicians caring for Medicare patients will need to make decisions about how to adapt their practices to the new incentives.

Workplace Wellness: Promises, Challenges, and Legal Questions

Employers have long been advancing a variety of efforts to engage their employees in their health care, reduce absenteeism, and decrease the cost of employee health benefits. Recently, however, some employer wellness programs offering significant incentives for participation–or penalties for nonparticipation–have raised legal issues regarding privacy and discrimination and are the subject of a recent proposed rule from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Biosimilars in the United States: Next Steps

With biosimilar biological products moving from the lab to the marketplace, key policy and regulatory questions are being actively debated, with important implications for industry, patients, and the health care system.

Zika Virus: Considerations for Public Health and Health Care Systems

This briefing will explore policy considerations to ensure that public health and health care systems are appropriately equipped to monitor, prepare for, and respond to Zika virus, as well as other future vector-borne outbreaks. While there have not been any cases of local transmission identified in the continental U.S., this mosquito-borne disease has captured the attention of public health and health care officials across the nation, especially as warmer weather approaches. As of April 27, 2016, 426 travel-associated Zika cases were reported in the United States and 596 locally-acquired cases were reported in U.S. territories.

Beyond Flint: Examining Water Quality Regulation

While the national news media and presidential candidates have focused on the water crisis occurring in Flint, Michigan, the city is not the only one facing a contaminated water system. With infrastructure over a century old, outdated regulatory legislation, and difficult-to-track contaminants entering our water, the federal government is tasked with solving current problems and mitigating future ones.

Patrick Conway on Medicare Payment Demos

CMS’s Patrick Conway will meet with reporters May 4th to answer questions about recent developments in ACOs, bundled payments and other Medicare payment demonstrations. He’ll also discuss a recently-announced demo, Comprehensive Primary Care Plus, which could bring more flexibility to 20,000 primary care physicians, and may cover services such as telemedicine.

Value-Based Pricing for Prescription Drugs: Opportunities and Challenges

Recent pharmaceutical innovations offer unprecedented possibilities for curing, treating, or preventing a range of diseases. However, patients, providers and payers alike have raised concerns about the affordability and sustainability of these drugs. As a response to price increases of both single-source and generic drugs, some stakeholders are calling for a move towards basing payments on value, and some payers and pharmaceutical manufacturers are exploring ways to base payments on outcomes. However, many challenges remain.

Medicare Payment System Reforms: What Do We Know?

Medicare is testing new ways to pay for medical services, emphasizing value rather than volume, and evidence is beginning to build about successes and challenges. This briefing will examine what we know so far about the basic models, savings, quality, the impact on patients and the prospects for replication.

Reforming the Health Care Delivery System: A Team Approach

Reforming the American health care system is a front-burner topic for many policymakers. One main reason is the desire to extend coverage to some if not all of the more than 45 million uninsured in this country. But there is an emerging consensus that reform must also encompass ways to improve quality and value in the system, and one of the prime targets for reform is the way care is delivered. Advocates, analysts, policymakers, consumers and the business and labor communities are all looking for ways to get more value for their health care dollar – delivering better care at lower cost.

Briefing for Reporters on State Health Initiatives

A governor met with reporters Friday, February 19 to discuss the latest health care innovations and changes they are pursuing or implementing. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., discussed his experience with the state’s program to move newly eligible Medicaid beneficiaries to qualified health plans, and his intentions for changes moving forward.

Health Care Consolidation: What You Need to Know

A top Federal Trade Commission official, along with key experts, met with reporters Dec. 15 to discuss the recent surge in health care consolidation; the driving forces behind this trend; and the implications for policymakers and enforcers.

Health Care Out from Behind Bars: Meeting Reentering Prisoners’ Needs Efficiently

Research shows that approximately 40 percent of former federal prisoners and over 60 percent of former state prisoners are rearrested within three years of release and many are re-incarcerated. Individuals transitioning into and out of the criminal justice system include many low-income adults with significant physical and mental health needs. Through outreach and education, correctional facilities are increasingly playing a key role in connecting eligible individuals to health care coverage and other social supports to facilitate their reintegration into the community. The Medicaid coverage expansion is also providing new opportunities to increase health care access to this particular population and potentially improving health outcomes, while bringing down costs. This briefing, the last in our “Medicaid: Beyond the Silos” series, built on last year’s correctional health briefing, with an added focus on reentry programs, and further explored the intersection of health policy and the criminal justice system.

Health Care Consolidation: Trends, Impact and Regulation

In 2014, there were a total of 1,299 mergers and acquisitions in the health care sector – a record number, up from 1,035 the year before. This briefing will discussed the driving forces behind this recent increase in consolidation; the scope and extent of consolidation among doctors, hospitals and insurers; implications for consumers and other stakeholders; and the roles of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.

Taking the Right Meds at the Right Time: Medication Adherence, Health Outcomes and Costs

Evidence shows that medication adherence—the extent to which a person takes medications as prescribed by their health care providers—is associated with improved health care outcomes for many costly chronic conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and asthma. However, only 50% percent of Americans are estimated to take their medications as prescribed, and non-adherence is estimated to result in added direct and indirect costs to the healthcare system of over $300 billion per year. The challenges and policy questions surrounding medication adherence affect Medicare, Medicaid, and the private sector – and offer a window into broader questions surrounding the ability of our health care system to coordinate care, particularly for people with multiple chronic conditions. In this briefing, top experts from the public and private sectors explored key policy, practical, and research questions surrounding medication adherence and management of medications.

High-Need, High-Cost Patients: The Role of Behavioral Health

Behavioral health conditions, including mental health issues and substance use disorders, affect nearly one in five Americans and account for $57 billion in health care costs annually. This briefing discussed current initiatives to integrate behavioral and physical health care services in order to improve quality of care and reduce overall health care costs.

Medicare Open Enrollment Preview

With Medicare Advantage (Part C) and prescription drug (Part D) open enrollment beginning October 15th, this briefing took a close look at what to expect, including trends in premiums and cost sharing, plan availability and benefit design.

Home and Community-Based Services: System-wide Coordination to Improve Care, Hold Down Costs

The movement toward home and community-based, long-term services and supports (LTSS) continues to grow, resulting in increased demand for these services. The goal is to help people live in the community independently, yet many barriers to offering HCBS still exist. This briefing will examine the potential of HCBS to reduce health care costs and improve quality of care. It will explore the intersection of HCBS, the broader health care delivery system and Medicaid, which is the largest payer of LTSS.

Health Insurance Marketplaces in 2016: What to Expect

With the third open enrollment period for health insurance marketplaces launching November 1st, this briefing took a detailed look at what consumers can expect regarding premiums, health plan availability and affordability.

Prescription Drug Costs: Trends and Tradeoffs in the Pipeline from Lab to Market

Innovative drugs have brought about significant progress in treating costly and complex conditions. While there is agreement among many stakeholders that some of these breakthrough drugs have had a positive impact on Americans’ health and life expectancy, increasing prices have also caused some confusion about the methods by which drug prices are determined. The goal of this briefing was to discuss recent prescription drug price trends, as well as demystify the pricing process. It identified contributors to the rising prices of many drugs, including shareholder interests and R&D costs, in addition to explaining possible future pricing-related challenges for manufacturers, providers, and consumers.