New Jersey passes individual mandate for healthcare
New Jersey became the second state to pass its own individual mandate requiring residents to have health coverage at risk of paying a penalty.
Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill into law to protects a key tenet of the Affordable Care Act, an individual mandate that was effectively repealed as part of the massive tax package passed last year. The mandate will take effect Jan. 1, 2019.
Officials said penalty funds collected under the new law would go toward a reinsurance program to defray the costs of covering the most expensive patients. (The Observer article)
Physicians group sound alarm over visa delays for medical residents
Seven major physician groups sent a letter to Immigration Services raising the alarm about how delays in processing visas may disrupt medical residents who are scheduled to start their training at hospitals around the country in July.
The groups sent the letter to the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services expressing concern about the repercussions of delays in H-1B visa processing and the impact on patient care. The letter said non-U.S. international medical graduates who have accepted positions in the U.S. are facing increased scrutiny of prevailing wage data and in some cases have reportedly had their applications denied.
Graduate medical education training programs in the U.S. start on or before July 1. “When incoming medical residents are delayed or visas are denied, it is not only disruptive to training programs, but it impacts patient care as teaching hospitals rely on these medical residents to provide care,” the groups said in the letter. (Fierce Healthcare)
AMA: Opioid prescriptions continue drop
The number of opioids prescribed by doctors fell by more than 55 million, a 22.2% decrease, over the last five years, according to a new report (PDF) from the American Medical Association.
The report also said researchers observed a decrease in opioid prescribing and increases in the use of state prescription drug monitoring programs, number of physicians trained and certified to treat patients with an opioid use disorder and in access to naloxone.
For example, health care providers made more than 300.4 million PDMP queries in 2017, up 121% from 2016. Naloxone prescriptions more than doubled in 2017, from approximately 3,500 to 8,000 naloxone prescriptions dispensed per week. (Release)
Telehealth could be win for opioid treatment
Nearly a dozen healthcare groups are voicing support for legislation that would allow providers to utilize telehealth to treat substance abuse.
In a letter to lawmakers, 11 groups—including the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, HIMSS and the American Telemedicine Association—urged lawmakers to include the Expanding Telehealth Response to Ensure Addiction Treatment Act (eTREAT) Act in efforts to address the opioid crisis. The bill, introduced by a bipartisan group of senators earlier this month, would waive site restrictions on Medicare reimbursement for telehealth treatment for substance abuse disorders.
Telebehavorial health is one way to get patients necessary treatment, the letter states. But federal restrictions “significantly limit the number of telebehavioral health visits available in Medicare" by limiting reimbursement to rural providers. (FierceHealthcare)