Health Net Federal Services experiences significant challenges with TRICARE transition On January 1, 2018, Health Net Federal Services (HNFS) became the new Defense Heath Agency (DHA) managed care contractor for the TRICARE West Region, serving approximately 2.9 million beneficiaries in 21 western states, including California. HNFS took over the contract previously held by UnitedHealthcare Military and Veterans’ Services (UMVS). The California Medical Association (CMA) has learned that HNFS has experienced implementation issues related to provider contracting and credentialing, beneficiary reassignment to new primary care managers (PCM), and provider directory inaccuracies. Read More July 25, 2018 Health Net, Insurance 0 0 Comment Read More »
Study: Urgent care clinics prescribe millions of unnecessary antibiotics Nearly half of patients who go to urgent care clinics seeking treatment for a flu, cold or other conditions that don’t require antibiotics received a prescription for one anyway. That’s three times as often as antibiotics are prescribed to patients with the same illnesses in traditional doctors’ offices, according to a study published Monday. Read More July 18, 2018 Public Health 0 0 Comment Read More »
Mental health after devastating Northern California wildfires focus of July 31 conference Recovery from the mental health impacts of the October wildfires, retaining and recruiting doctors to the area and key legislation affecting medicine will be among the topics at the North Bay Business Journal / Western Health Advantage Health Care Conference on July 31, a Project Rebuild event. Addressing the recovery of the North Bay from the mental health impacts will be a panel moderated by Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane and the following leaders. Read More July 17, 2018 Mental Health, Public Health 0 0 Comment Read More »
A Letter to Doctors from CMS Administrator Seema Verma In a letter addressed to doctors, CMS Administrator Seema Verma reaffirmed the federal agency’s commitment to “turning the tide” of rising rates of physician burnout and reducing clinical documentation requirements to cut provider burden. A Letter to Doctors from CMS Administrator Seema Verma Dear Doctor, Thank you for the difference you make in your patients’ lives. Many of our nation’s best and brightest students go into medicine – the competition is intense for every spot. To become a practicing physician, you had to put in years of training, hours of studying, and ... July 17, 2018 CMS, Medicare 0 0 Comment Read More »
Health Net to rescind recently announced payment policies Since Health Net first notified physicians in March of planned changes to its modifier 25 and emergency services payment policies for Medicare and Medi-Cal lines of business, the California Medical Association (CMA) has been working to educate the payor about physician concerns with the new policies. Last month Health Net agreed to delay implementation of the new policies until July 1, 2018, to allow time to review provider concerns with the new policies and to continue discussions with CMA and other stakeholders. “We believe a more collaborative approach to identify alternative ... July 13, 2018 Coding, General, Health Net, Insurance 0 0 Comment Read More »
