Description: This article discusses new opportunities for states to waive certain marketplace requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The article focuses on specific opportunities for states and the role that actuaries will play.

Description: A proposal to reform current health care market, from a 'preferred payer' system, in which Medicare and Medicaid pay less than the true cost while others must then pay more, to a 'value for money' system. This would be achieved by requiring providers to bill all patients the same rate for the same services, with a standard bundling format to make all providers' rate differences transparent. Differences between billed charges and what Medicare pays would be made up by the Medicare patient, rather than subsidized by those outside of Medicare.

Description: This article includes a summary of 2012 Health section activities as well as upcoming events, including the Health '12 Meeting, two HARI research projects (ACOs and risk adjustment), the value of health section membership, and our Canadian Outreach.

Description: A rethinking of current provider reimbursement, focusing on incentives instead of simply cutting fees. The recommended 2-pronged approach would feature integrated provider organizations as well as evidence-based decision making organized around episodes of care.

Description: An edited written interview with two actuaries and a public health professional on issues related to the intersection between the two fields.

Description: The presenters will cover the variation in risk adjustment approaches used across state Medicaid programs and compare them to other Federal programs. Additionally, recent developments, such as the use of OCR to extract data from medical charts for risk adjustment, will be discussed.

Description: A proposal to reform the health care provider payment system through: a national fee schedule, shifting more reimbursements to primary care providers, better integration of hospital & physician fees, evidence based care, pay for performance, and a better provider risk sharing mechanism.

Description: CHCS is a nonprofit policy center focused on improving American health outcomes, particularly for low-income people, including payment & delivery system reform.