Register for our Series on the Healthcare Exchanges.

Summary: Did you knwo that we’re launching a new Series on the Healthcare Exchanges? BHM is notorious for providing relevant, current information in regard to healthcare late-breaking news, hot off the presses issues, and trends which affect healthcare providers, payers, and consumers. As such, BHM will release articles over the coming weeks focused upon providing current updates on the healthcare exchanges.

Keeping with the tradition of providing up to the minute healthcare information, BHM is running a series over the coming weeks about healthcare exchanges – what’s new, what each state is doing, where to find the most current information from the most reliable websites, and what consumers, providers, and payers need to know.

BHM is a healthcare management consulting firm whose specialty is optimizing profitability while improving care in a variety of health care settings. BHM has worked both nationally and internationally with managed care organizations, providers, hospitals, and insurers. In addition to this BHM offers a wide breadth of services ranging including managed care consulting, strategic planning and organizational analysis, accreditation consulting, financial consulting for healthcare, peer review in healthcare, and organizational development.

The healthcare exchanges (aka marketplaces) are the latest healthcare buzz.  A healthcare exchange is basically a marketplace which enables individuals who don’t have health insurance to obtain information, make informed decisions, and choose a healthcare plan which best fits the needs of the individual or family in terms of coverage, benefits, and premiums. The exchanges additionally provide a potential for a government subsidy which may be available to certain individuals in particular income levels.

Healthcare exchanges are the result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) aka Healthcare Reform aka Obamacare aka The Affordable Care Act (ACA). Open enrollment begins October 1, 2013 for the 2014 year. Individual states were given the option to choose whether to create a state run exchange or default to/choose to participate in the federal exchanges. Individual states are able to accept or deny application for individual payers such as Blue Cross, Aetna, and Cigna. Additionally, the payers are able to submit plans and premiums to the state for approval.

Between now and October 1, 2013, both federal and state exchanges are expected to be up and running. The preparation for this provision is immense, time consuming, and requires not only that the providers and plans be ready to go, but that all HIPAA and other security measures are in place to protect patient and financial information and for technology to be able to communicate across state and federal lines in an efficient manner.

With the exchanges slated as one of the most controversial, relevant, timely issues in the next 30 days, BHM will dedicate the next 2 weeks to providing the most up to the minute, relevant information, providing any newly released information by state as it happens. Stay tuned to see what unfolds. Just knowing where to obtain the information for individual states is half the battle, and at this point, most Americans don’t know where to begin their search.

Follow BHM Healthcare Solutions for more information and updates on our latest series on the healthcare exchanges.