Friday update

It doesn't seem quite right to use the TGIF label on a short workweek when the FEHBlog has only done one post. So Friday update it is.

OPM has rolled out its new website. Here's a link to the new FEHBP page site.

Following up on the last post, the Wall Street Journal reported on an initiative that OPM has endorsed - reducing hospital readmissions. Medicare is penalizing hospitals for high readmission rates, and this penalty has caught the hospital's attention. However, the article illustrates that reducing readmissions, a worthy goal, is much easier said than done. Here's the rub:

Some researchers also contend that 30 days may not be a fair time period to judge a hospital for conditions such as heart failure, a chronic disease in which risk of death or readmission can accumulate months after initial hospitalization. And hospitals that keep patients alive by rehospitalizing them may be penalized for higher readmission rates even though they lower mortality rates.
"The caution, unfortunately, will probably be that hospitals will begin to restrict readmissions," regardless of a patient's condition, in order to avoid Medicare cuts, says Todd Rosengart, chairman of the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston,

The bottom line is that public health measures are imperfect because health care is complex.

The Labor Department issued a potpourri of Affordable Care Act guidance yesterday in FAQ XI.  "This set of FAQs addresses the employer notice of coverage options, health reimbursement arrangements, disclosure of information related to firearms, employer group waiver plans supplementing Medicare Part D, fixed indemnity insurance and payment of PCORI fees." This information is interesting but not directly relevant to the FEHBP. The FEHBlog gets a kick out of the fact that the Labor Department uses Roman numerals to identify the FAQs as if they were the equivalent of Super Bowls. But they are darn handy.