News Roundup: October 2018 Edition

Handful of States Propose Lower ACA Premium Rates for 2019

Several states have announced lower ACA premium rates for 2019, bucking a national trend brought on by unstable markets and regulatory changes.

NCQA Releases 2018 Health Insurance Plan Ratings

National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is releasing its 2018 Health Insurance Plan Ratings. These ratings provide consumers with a more accurate picture of how health insurance plans perform in the key quality areas of consumer satisfaction, prevention and treatment.

Next Generation ACOs form coalition aimed at advancing the model

Next Generation ACOs take on greater financial risk than other programs, such as the Medicare Shared Savings Program, and in return are offered greater flexibility for care coordination. But they’ve also faced blowback, with some calling for these models to be scrapped or severely overhauled because the promised savings slow to materialized

Private blockchain, explained: What it is, what it isn’t and how to manage your HIPAA expectations

For many healthcare executives, blockchain is more than just hype.

Data silos and interoperability challenges abound in healthcare, and blockchain technology appears to provide a solution, theoretically allowing distinct sources of data to update each other in a decentralized way—without the considerable administrative burden of maintaining up-to-date centralized databases.