Description: In the past months, as COVID-19 has forced the reduced activity in the U.S. economy there has been some very substantial, but varied effects on the U.S. healthcare system. There is a lot of potential for confusion amongst providers and patients with regards to decisions related to which services ought to be rendered and which ought to be deferred. Two specific agencies – the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) have put together some guidance to add more clarity towards what types of services should be provided and what types ought to be deferred. In addition, this paper includes a discussion on what types of services are most likely to be deferred, and which ones will accrue pent-up demand to be released when many of the deferred services become available again.

Description: The Society of Actuaries (SOA) commissioned Milliman to develop this report to provide health care stakeholders—patients, payers, policymakers and actuaries—with a comprehensive description of DPC as well as an objective actuarial evaluation of certain claims made about the DPC model of care.

Description: This study estimates the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and reported deaths by hospital referral regions (HRR) using Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 data by U.S. county and the Dartmouth Atlas Project division of counties into HRRs.

Description: The Society of Actuaries has developed and released a health care forecast model to illustrate the potential impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on insurance plan health care costs in the United States. Users of the model may include insurance company actuaries seeking an additional reference point for 2021 cost development, regulatory actuaries seeking additional insights and validation of costs as part of rating submissions for 2021, and insurance purchasers seeking a deeper understanding of the forces driving 2021 health care costs and premiums. The model is not intended as a replacement for existing modeling tools developed by insurers or regulators. Rather, the model’s primary purpose is to illustrate the key outbreak-related forces that are affecting the trajectory of health care costs. In addition the model can provide a common reference point to facilitate dialogue with respect to the regulatory review of 2021 health insurance rate filings.

Description: The presenters will discuss recent regulatory changes that allow some long-term care benefits to be included in Medicare Advantage plans. Hear an overview of what has become available in the market and what might happen in the near future.

Description: The always popular Medicaid Hot Topics session is back with discussions from an expert panel on the most riveting Medicaid topics of the year. These could include the following: • Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Proposed Regulations• Tennessee's Block Grant Proposal• ACA court battles: What are the potential impacts on Medicaid? • Pass-through payments are converting to directed payments: What is changing?• And more current topics of interest to Medicaid actuariesMedicaid is dynamic and it is difficult to stay current on all of the changes. This session provides insightful discussion into the major changes that impact actuaries and their companies or state clients.

Description: Feature article with helpful hints on video conferencing and more!

Description: Building on our previous newsletter article (“Who Sells and Distributes”), we continue here in our attempt to define and clarify sales and distribution terms that may be confusing or misunderstood. In this article, we focus on seller and distributor compensation, which includes payments to customer-facing sales experts and separate allowances for the entities supporting those experts

Description: Discusses challenges faced by the people living in the remote town of Brewster, Nebraska.

Description: A Brief covering the impact of COVID-19 on mental health.