Midweek update

At 10 am this morning, an FEHBA-related oral argument will be held before U.S. Supreme Court.  This is the first time that the Supreme Court has heard an FEHBA case since 2006.   The Court will be considering the constitutionality of the FEHBA's state law preemption provision. Without getting bogged down in detail (which the FEHBlog enjoys actually), the FEHBlog expects that the Court will uphold this important aspect of the FEHBA, which allows for uniform nationwide plan administration. A decision is expected before the end of June.

Healthcare Finance reports on last Monday's meeting involving the President, the Vice President, the HHS Secretary and health insurance executives.  Last night, President Trump outlined his approach to repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. The Wall Street Journal explains that

Mr. Trump repeated his promise to overturn the 2010 health law, at a time when the party’s factions are threatening to withhold support for the effort if their demands aren’t met. He said a new health-care plan should ensure coverage for pre-existing conditions and minimize disruptions for people with coverage under Obamacare.  He backed the use of tax credits to help people buy coverage, expanding health savings accounts to pay for treatment and said governors needed the resources to continue to fund their Medicaid programs for the poor. 

We will see whether the President's leadership can bring together the Republican members of Congress to enact this legislation.

OPM has stated that one of its plan performance goals is to improve the care provided to pregnant women, a worthy goal.  In that regard, the Leapfrog Group released its annual Maternity Care report yesterday.  Leapfrog explains

Having a baby is one of life’s most exciting experiences, but the type of care received in the hospital can vary greatly. Women and families should use Leapfrog's hospital survey results to consider which hospital they’d like to use for their child’s delivery.This section of the survey examines five key areas of maternity care quality:

• Early elective delivery rate
• Rate of C-sections
• Rate of episiotomy
• Performance on standard processes of care
• Delivery outcomes for high-risk births

The majority of maternity care measures included on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey are endorsed by the National Quality Forum, including Early Elective Deliveries, Cesarean Sections, Episiotomy, as well as components of the Processes of Care and High-Risk Deliveries measures.  A selection of these maternity care measures are also utilized by The Joint Commission as part of their Perinatal Care measure set: Early Elective Deliveries, Cesarean Sections, and Antenatal Steroids (a component of the High-Risk Deliveries measure). Patients can search for how their hospital performs on these maternity care measures on the Compare Hospitals page.

Good work.