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	<title>:: MedHOK HealthCare Solutions, LLC ::</title>
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		<title>Health Reform Update</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A number of developments occurred on health reform and other issues this past week, including the release of the final rule on the mandatory Summary of Benefits under PPACA.
Final Health Reform Regulations On Summary of Benefits Issued
The federal government issued final regulations related to the mandate requiring health insurers to issue comprehensive summaries of benefits [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.medhok.com/healthcare-reform/health-reform-update.html</link>
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		<title>Medicare Advantage Making Headlines &#8211; But is it Too Much Attention?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Medicare Advantage (MA) plans are enjoying continued success despite some major changes in recent years. That could portend further reforms and reductions down the road.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced this week that Medicare Advantage premiums have fallen by 7 percent and enrollment has risen 10 percent in the last year. Average [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.medhok.com/healthcare-reform/medicare-advantage-making-headlines-but-is-it-too-much-attention.html</link>
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		<title>The Future of the Medicaid Expansion under PPACA</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Headlines regarding the pending Supreme Court case on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) tend to focus on the future of the individual mandate in national health reform. Critics argue that the commerce clause cannot be used to force individual citizens to purchase health insurance. Quite simply, they argue the clause cannot legitimately [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.medhok.com/healthcare-reform/the-future-of-the-medicaid-expansion-under-ppaca.html</link>
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		<title>Medicaid Quality Measures Announcement Mirrors Efforts in Other Programs</title>
		<description><![CDATA[While some states initiated strong quality enhancement programs (complete with quality bonuses and extra member assignments) years back in their Medicaid programs, most states have been ignoring their abysmal quality track record. Now, more states are doing something about it and waking up to the appallingly low results whether in their fee-for-service (FFS) or managed [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.medhok.com/healthcare-reform/medicaid-quality-measures-announcement-mirrors-efforts-in-other-programs.html</link>
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		<title>PPACA Essential Benefits Outlined</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) essentially gave in a little on crafting rigorous essential benefits under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and punted the final decisions to states. PPACA called for HHS to set essential benefits for non-grandfathered health benefits under health reform and outlined 10 categories of services [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.medhok.com/acos/ppaca-essential-benefits-outlined.html</link>
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		<title>Final Rules Don’t Give Relief on Minimum MLR: Mixed Signals from HHS On States’ PPACA MLR Waivers</title>
		<description><![CDATA[When the national health reform bill passed, many insurers and state insurance regulators reacted with chagrin to the 85 percent large group and 80 percent individual and small group minimum medical loss ratio (MLR) requirements in the act. They argued that the minimum MLR thresholds would destabilize these markets and lead to insurers exiting these [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.medhok.com/healthcare-reform/final-rules-don%e2%80%99t-give-relief-on-minimum-mlr-mixed-signals-from-hhs-on-states%e2%80%99-ppaca-mlr-waivers.html</link>
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		<title>A Few Thanksgiving Healthcare Morsels</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Given the short week, MedHOK’s Strategic Insights will offer up some Thanksgiving-themed morsels on recent healthcare happenings. Happy Thanksgiving!
Super Committee A TURKEY: Congress Eats Crow – As expected, the committee deadlocked in its effort to cut more than $1 trillion from the federal deficit over the next decade, triggering automatic cuts beginning FFY 2013 that [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.medhok.com/healthcare-reform/a-few-thanksgiving-healthcare-morsels.html</link>
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		<title>Deadline Looms As The Super Committee Tries To Prepare Thanksgiving Deal</title>
		<description><![CDATA[All attention in Washington is focused on whether the Super Committee created under the recent deficit and debt reduction act will actually get a deal done before automatic spending cuts go into effect. The panel consists of twelve lawmakers – six from each party and each chamber – and it has been given nearly unprecedented [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.medhok.com/super-committee/deadline-looms-as-the-super-committee-tries-to-prepare-thanksgiving-deal.html</link>
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		<title>Medicare Quality Big Focus for CMS</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In lieu of its usual analysis, MedHOK is updating you on developments from past Strategic Insights.
Quality Focus in Medicare Advantage and Part D
CMS announced that many Medicare Part D plan ratings fell from 2011 to 2012. Ratings fell in part due to a greater focus on quality and compliance. CMS said 28% of Part D [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.medhok.com/healthcare-reform/medicare-quality-big-focus-for-cms.html</link>
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		<title>ACO Final Rules Issued: CMS Bows To Provider Pressure, But Will It Be Enough?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) released its final Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) rules this past week and made a number of concessions to providers worried that the original regulations stymied the reform effort. The response to the final regulations has generally been positive, but many organizations are still non-committal or exhibiting caution as [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.medhok.com/healthcare-reform/274.html</link>
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