Dr. Michelle Kubiak has contracted with the Gem Health Plan, a Medicare+Choice health plan, to provide medical services to Gem's enrollees. Gem pays Dr. Kubiak $40 per enrollee per month for providing primary care. Gem also pays her an additional $10 per enrollee per month if the cost of referral services falls below a targeted level. This information indicates that, according to the substantial financial risk formula, Dr. Kubiak's referral risk under this contract is equal to:
The following statements are about Medicaid health plan entities. Select the answer choice containing the correct statement:
The following statements describe two types of HMOs:
The Elm HMO requires its members to select a PCP but allows the members to go to any other provider on its panel without a referral from the PCP.
The Treble HMO does not require its members to select a PCP. Treble allows its members to go to any doctor, healthcare professional, or facility that is on its panel without a referral from a primary care doctor. However, care outside of Treble's network is not reimbursed unless the provider obtains advance approval from the HMO.
Both HMOs use delegation to transfer certain functions to other organizations. Following the guidelines established by the NCQA, Elm delegated its credentialing activities to the Newnan Group, and the agreement between Elm and Newnan lists the responsibilities of both parties under the agreement. Treble delegated utilization management (UM) to an IPA. The IPA then transferred the authority for case management to the Quest Group, an organization that specializes in case management.
Both HMOs also offer pharmacy benefits. Elm calculates its drug costs according to a pricing system that requires establishing a purchasing profile for each pharmacy and basing reimbursement on the profile. Treble and the Manor Pharmaceutical Group have an arrangement that requires the use of a typical maximum allowable cost (MAC) pricing system to calculate generic drug costs under Treble's pharmacy program. The following statements describe generic drugs prescribed for Treble plan members who are covered by Treble's pharmacy benefits:
The MAC list for Drug A specifies a cost of 12 cents per tablet, but Manor pays 14 cents per tablet for this drug.
The MAC list for Drug B specifies a cost of 7 cents per tablet, but Manor pays 5 cents per tablet for this drug.
The following statements can correctly be made about the reimbursement for Drugs A and B under the MAC pricing system:
Martin Breslin, age 72 and permanently disabled, is classified as dually-eligible. This information indicates that Mr. Breslin qualifies for coverage by both
The provider contract that Dr. Laura Cartier has with the Sailboat health plan includes a section known as the recitals. Dr. Cartier's contract includes the following statements:
The Bruin Health Plan is a Social Health Maintenance Organization (SHMO). As an SHMO, Bruin:
The Pine Health Plan has incorporated pharmacy benefits management into its operations to form a unified benefit. Potential advantages that Pine can receive from this action include:
Prior to the enactment of the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997, payment for Medicare-covered primary and acute care services was based on the adjusted average per capita cost (AAPCC). The AAPCC is defined as the
The Portway Hospital is qualified to receive Medicaid subsidy payments as a disproportionate share hospital (DHS). The DHS payments that Portway receives are
One characteristic of the workers' compensation program is that:
The following statement(s) can correctly be made about the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997:
The Aztec Health Plan has a variety of organizational committees related to quality and utilization management. These committees include the medical advisory committee, the credentialing committee, the utilization management committee, and the quality management committee. Of these committees, the one that most likely is responsible for providing oversight of Aztec's inpatient concurrent review process is the:
Dr. Sylvia Cimer and Dr. Andrew Donne are obstetrician/gynecologists who participate in the same provider network. Dr. Comer treats a large number of high-risk patients, whereas Dr. Donne’s patients are generally healthy and rarely present complications. As a result, Dr. Comer typically uses medical resources at a much higher rate than does Dr. Donne. In order to equitably compare Dr. Comer’s performance with Dr. Donne’s performance, the health plan modified its evaluation to account for differences in the providers’ patient populations and treatment protocols. The health plan modified Dr. Comer’s and Dr. Donne’s performance data by means of
The following statements are about fee-for-service (FFS) payment systems. Select the answer choice containing the correct statement:
Before or during the orientation process, health plans generally provide new network providers with a provider manual. One of the primary purposes of the provider manual is to
In the paragraph below, two statements each contain a pair of terms enclosed in parentheses. Determine which term correctly completes each statement. Then select the answer choice that contains the two terms you have chosen.
In most states, a health plan can be held responsible for a provider’s negligent malpractice. This legal concept is known as (vicarious liability / risk sharing). One step that health plans can take to reduce their exposure to malpractice lawsuits is to state in health plan-provider agreements, marketing collateral, and membership literature that the providers are (employees of the health plan / independent contractors).
When the Rialto Health Plan determines which of the emergency services received by its plan members should be covered by the health plan, it is guided by a standard which describes emergencies as medical conditions manifesting themselves by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that a person who possesses an average knowledge of health and medicine could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in placing the health of the individual in serious jeopardy. This standard, which was adopted by the NAIC in 1996, is referred to as the
In the paragraph below, two statements each contain a pair of terms enclosed in parentheses. Determine which term correctly completes each statement. Then select the answer choice that contains the two terms you have chosen.
A formulary lists the drugs and treatment protocols that are considered to be the preferred therapy for a given managed population. The Fairfax Health Plan uses the type of formulary which covers drugs that are on its preferred list as well as drugs that are not on its preferred list. This information indicates that Fairfax uses the (closed / open) formulary method. In using the formulary approach to pharmacy benefits management, Fairfax most likely experiences (higher / lower) costs for its members’ prescription drugs than it would if it did not use a formulary.
The Gardenia Health Plan has a national reputation for quality care. When Gardenia entered a new market, it established a preferred provider organization (PPO), a health maintenance organization (HMO), and a point-of-service product (POS) to serve the plan members in this market. All of the providers included in the HMO or the POS are included in the broader provider panel of the PPO. The POS will be a typical two-level POS that offers a cost-based incentive plans for PCPs, and the HMO is a typical staff model HMO.
The following statement(s) can correctly be made about Gardenia’s establishment of the PPO and the staff model HMO in its new market:
1. When establishing its PPO network, Gardenia most likely initiated outcomes measurement tools and developed collaborative process improvement relationships with providers.
2. To avoid high overhead expenses in the early stages of market evelopment, Gardenia’s HMO most likely contracted with specialists and ancillary providers until the plan’s membership grew to a sufficient level to justify employing these specialists.
Health plans are required to follow several regulations and guidelines regarding the access and adequacy of their provider networks. The Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) regulations, for example, require that health plans
Although a health plan is allowed to delegate many activities to outside sources, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has determined that some activities are not delegable.
These activities include
From the following answer choices, choose the type of clause or provision described in this situation.
The provider contract between Dr. Olin Norquist and the Granite Health Plan specifies a time period for the party who has breached the contract to remedy the problem and avoid termination of the contract.
The Holiday Health Plan is preparing to enter a new market. In order to determine the optimal size of its provider panel in the new market, Holiday is conducting a competitive analysis of provider networks of the market’s existing health plans. Consider whether, in conducting its competitive analysis, Holiday should seek answers to the following questions:
Question 1: What are the cost-containment strategies of the health plans with increasing market shares?
Question 2: What are the premium strategies of the health plans with large market shares?
Question 3: What are the characteristics of health plans that are losing market share?
In its competitive analysis, Holiday should most likely obtain answers to questions
An health plan’s contract negotiation team consists of several skilled individuals from different areas. At least one of the members is responsible for evaluating the wording of specific clauses to ensure that the health plan’s rights are protected, as well as to ensure that the contract is in compliance with state and federal regulation. By profession, this member of the contract negotiation team is typically
One reason that an health plan would want to use the actual acquisition cost (AAC) pricing system to calculate its drug costs is that, of the systems commonly used to calculate drug costs, the AAC system
Dr. Eve Barlow is a specialist in the Amity Health Plan’s provider network. Dr. Barlow’s provider contract with Amity contains a typical most-favored-nation arrangement. The purpose of this arrangement is to
The method that the Autumn Health Plan uses for reimbursing dermatologists in its provider network involves paying them out of a fixed pool of funds that is actuarially determined for this specialty. The amount of funds that Autumn allocates to dermatologists is based on utilization and costs of services for that discipline.
Under this reimbursement method, a dermatologist who is under contract to Autumn accumulates one point for each new referral made to the specialist by Autumn’s PCPs. If the referral is classified as complicated, then the dermatologist receives 1.5 points. The value of Autumn’s dermatology services fund for the first quarter was $15,000. During the quarter, Autumn’s PCPs made 90 referrals, and 20 of these referrals were classified as complicated.
Autumn’s method of reimbursing specialty providers can best be described as a
The Festival Health Plan is in the process of recruiting physicians for its provider network. Festival requires its network physicians to be board certified. The following individuals are provider applicants whose qualifications are being considered:
Applicant 1 has completed his surgical residency, and he recently passed a qualifying examination in his field.
Applicant 2 has completed her residency in dermatology, and she is scheduled to take qualifying examinations in the next Six months.
Applicant 3 completed his residency in pediatric medicine six years ago, but he has not yet passed a qualifying examination in his field.
With regard to these applicants, it can correctly be stated that only
During the credentialing process, a health plan verifies the accuracy of information on a prospective network provider’s application. One true statement regarding this process is that the health plan
The actual number of providers included in a provider network may be based on staffing ratios. Staffing ratios relate the number of