The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has different meanings to different people and can stir a wide array of emotions. For Veterans like myself, personal experience in accessing benefits is an important determinant of how the VA is viewed. The VA has a wide range of benefits including VA Home Loans, GI Bill tuition
Social Determinants of Health are rapidly gaining traction throughout the healthcare industry. Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) and CMS seem to be in agreement that an expansive definition of benefits to be offered under Medicare Advantage can help MAOs help their members. Enter Special Supplemental Benefits for the Chronically Ill (or SSBCI for those of us
Social Determinants of Health: The Future of Healthcare There’s an old saying, “You can’t manage, what you can’t measure.” When it comes to the Social Determinants of Health (#SDOH), it is clear that the healthcare industry has a long way to go to be able to manage and measure the factors, experiences, and barriers beyond
Improving Medicare Advantage Star Ratings by Documenting Veterans Care As 2019 is officially here, Medicare Advantage plans are continuing to look for opportunities to positively impact their Star Ratings. The Star Ratings are important for Medicare Advantage plans for a variety of reasons including Quality Bonus Payments and marketing rules. Many of the Star Ratings
Today, Sunday November 11th is Veterans Day. By way of a little history, while World War I officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles in June of 1919, active hostilities ceased on November 11th of 1918. In November of the following year, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed a commemoration of the day as “Armistice Day.” In
Recently, the Aetna Foundation became the latest in a long-line of health stakeholders to make a statement regarding the need for solutions to address the “social determinants of health” (SDOH). They awarded nearly $2.4 million in grants to address SDOH challenges. A collaboration between the University of Wisconsin Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson
A recurrent theme in the Managed Care Industry is the importance of understanding not just the member’s health status, but the broader factors impacting the member’s lifelong health and healthcare. A member’s “social determinants of health” are an increasing focus for managed care plans, as the MCOs recognize that socio-economic status and historical access to
The once remote threat of a government shutdown has become an immediate probability. As Aaron Blake wrote in today’s Washington Post, the “government looks quite likely to shut down at midnight.” One of the more complicated elements of government shutdowns is understanding the impact on services. What government agencies cease operations? Which continue? At BeneLynk,