Obamacare Update

healthcare.gov

Sign-ups continue, although the “back room” functions are moving very slowly. Providers are struggling with verification problems and missing insurance cards.

Other Changing Policies

A huge number of policies in both the employer-paid sector and the individual policy sector changed as of January 1, creating more messes for patients and providers.

Moving individual policy holders into the exchange system has been a nightmare and will likely continue to be a nightmare for some time.

More Cash from Patients

The trend of “risk shift” - less coverage from employers and more out of pocket from patients – has been accelerated by Obamacare. This is impacting both patients and providers, and not for the better.

This creates numerous headaches for providers, who have enough headaches already.

Fall will be Interesting

With the ICD-10 adoption deadline October 1 and the EMR/EHR operational deadline January 1, 2015 the fall season will be stressful for providers.

Deadlines ….. don't mean much, it is the extended deadlines that are important

And so.... 2014 may be the single most stressful year in the history of our health care system – until 2015.

When Disruptive is too Disruptive

"Disruptive" is one of the hottest words in business these days, as in "disruptive technology."

Clearly ACA was designed to be disruptive, as it should have been, the 2010 status quo was not working.

Problem is, I don't think those who wrote Obama/Reid/Pelosi/Care really understood what furies they were turning loose. Clearly they overestimated their ability to manage the rapid change, and clearly they underestimated the disruptive effects.

While much of the focus is on healthcare.gov and Medicaid expansion, the real serious action is in the provider, employer and private insurance sectors. None have a real clue what the system will look like three years from now, but all are furiously trying to adapt as best they can.

It is going to be a wild ride. More to follow.