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Hospital Groups Reaffirm Support for PPACA, HIX

 |  By John Commins  
   September 17, 2013

In an online event Monday, the nation's three largest hospital associations expressed their unified support for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the face of withering and relentless criticism that appears to be sapping public support.

Leaders from the nation's three largest hospital associations met on Monday to reaffirm their support for the Affordable Care Act and encourage hospitals to help patients understand their health insurance options when open enrollment begins on Oct. 1.

"This is going forward. This is going to happen. I don't think there is anything between now and the near future that I could imagine would derail it," Chip Kahn, president/CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, said at the Monday afternoon webcast sponsored by the American Hospital Association.

"And over the next six months you are going to have the opportunity to work with your communities and your patients to help your patients get the health coverage they need."

Joining Kahn at the hour-long webcast were: AHA CEO/President Rich Umbdenstock; Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association;Mandy Cohen, MD, senior advisor to the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; and Cynthia Taueg, vice president, ambulatory and community health services at Detroit-based St. John Providence Health System.

The event was open to anyone with online access, but billed as an opportunity for hospital leaders to submit questions about the looming six-month open enrollment period for individual coverage on the health insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, as they are known. Cohen and Taueg provided suggestions to help hospitals with the transition.

"One thing [hospitals] might want to do is think about the patients that they already serve that are perhaps uninsured and how they can reach out to give them some information, be that through a mailing or some sort of a drive or health fair on the campus. But reach out to them. Don't wait for them to call you," Taueg said.

"Secondly, don't forget about your employees or your associates. They too are ambassadors in your community. They need to be informed, and many of them have family members who need to go to the marketplace. So take the time to look at your own employees and work with them."

"The third thing is I can't emphasize the partnerships enough. They are very important. You need to know who the navigator grantees are in your area and build on the partnerships that you already have. While it is not necessarily innovative, these are things that work. We just have to make sure that we work them."

Cohen was asked by Umbdenstock if the exchanges would be operational on Oct. 1.

"We are going to be ready on Oct. 1," Cohen replied. "We are not moving that deadline. Oct. 1 is coming and we will be open for business. The important thing is the context. Oct. 1 being open for business [means] it is the first time that folks will largely be seeing a lot of the plans in their states, their rates, and they really need to think through those options and that is why this enrollment period is six months long. It is not Election Day on Oct. 1. It is just a beginning."

The webcast, however, clearly provided a public platform for the nation's three largest hospital associations to reaffirm their unified support for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the face of withering and relentless criticism that appears to be sapping public support.

A Pew Research poll released Monday found that 53% of Americans disapprove of the PPACA. The same poll also found that only 25% of respondents said they understood how the law will affect them.

"People will only enroll if they know that this coverage is available and if they understand how to access these new coverage options," Umbdenstock said. "That is where we can help. It is critical that community stakeholders, certainly hospitals, faith groups, civic organizations and others come together to help make the enrollment process straight forward and widely available."

Keehan called access to healthcare "a matter of human dignity" and said hospitals will play a vital role "as a credible source of information in our communities." Keehan encouraged hospital administrators to "watch closely what is happening in your state with regard to marketplaces and Medicaid expansion."

"While the Affordable Care Act is not perfect, it is a great step toward the healthcare system all Americans deserve. To make the coverage provisions of the law readily available we need to focus now on enrollment, educating the public, signing people up, learning what we as hospitals can to do contribute," Keehan said.

"No matter who does the study, 75% to 85% of the people that this Act is supposed to help in this open enrollment believe there is nothing in the Act for them and that is largely because of massive misinformation. A good number of people don't even believe the Affordable Care Act is still the law and that it offers assistance and helps them pay for coverage."

The CHA leader also sought to tamp down the apocalyptic predictions of ACA critics.

"Try to have a historical perspective," Keehan said. "Look at the beginnings of our Medicare program. There were lots and lots of ups and downs in that and today not having the Medicare program is unthinkable. There will be bumps in the road, unintended consequences, things we didn't think of. But they are all worth getting beyond. We have the talent and commitment at CMS and (Health and Human Services) and in the Administration and Congress and get beyond them and give us a healthcare system that is worthy of our nation."

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John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.

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