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In 2023, 5.2 million dual-eligible individuals were enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan designed specifically for dual-eligible individuals, known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs). This brief highlights 10 things to know about D-SNPs, including national and state enrollment trends, plan availability, insurer participation, benefits, and prior authorization rates and denials
Proposed updates to federal mental health parity rules would make wide ranging changes to current standards that apply to private insurance and coverage provided by most employers. This issue brief focuses on one aspect of the new proposal---a requirement that plans perform an “outcome analysis” before they can place certain restrictions on behavioral health coverage. This would require that plans evaluate specific data to determine the impact of certain restrictions on behavioral health access, such as prior authorization rules or limited provider network access. The use of data analysis as an oversight tool would be new for federal insurance regulators. The brief discusses this new proposed tool and the key policy questions that it triggers.
This Data Note highlights findings from the KFF Consumer Survey on problems consumers have experienced with prior authorization requirements. Overall, those with Medicaid, those who are higher utilizers of care, and those who seek certain types of care such as care for a mental health condition or diabetes encountered more problems with prior authorization over the past year.
Congress asked the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to investigate whether Medicaid MCOs are providing medically necessary health care services to their enrollees. OIG found that Medicaid MCOs had an overall prior authorization denial rate of 12.5%–more than 2 times higher than the Medicare Advantage rate. Prior authorization denial rates ranged widely across and within parent firms and states. After a prior authorization request is denied, Medicaid enrollees can appeal, but it’s not always straightforward and many appeals don’t change the initial decision. Unlike in Medicare Advantage, if a Medicaid MCO upholds its original denial, there is no automatic, independent external medical review. OIG found that state Medicaid agency oversight of prior authorization denials is limited. The OIG report underscores concerns about prior authorization and access in Medicaid managed care, keeping this issue at the forefront of ongoing policy discussions.
Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek, an Associate Director for the Program on Medicare Policy at KFF, testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on May 17, 2023 as part of a hearing on Examining Health Care Denials and Delays in Medicare Advantage.
This brief describes the scope of mental health and substance use disorder benefits in Medicare Advantage plans, including extra benefits, cost sharing, and prior authorization and referral requirements, based on an analysis of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Advantage plan benefit and enrollment files for 2022.
This brief explains a new proposed federal regulation aimed at reducing administrative hassles involved in obtaining prior authorization for care and sets out key policy questions, including how the proposal could impact the patient experience and data privacy.
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