Dialysis In the US: A Broken Market Requires Thinking Outside The “Network” Box

Since the beginning of managed care, Americans have feared receiving care from doctors or hospitals who are “out-of-network” because that often means sky-high prices and more out-of-pocket costs. But what happens when the opposite is true – when the “in-network” rate is unfair and higher than the “out-of-network” rate for the same exact service? How does that […]

SIIA Industry Updates and Trends: ENGAGING in a World Where Transparency Matters.

The SIIA 43rd Annual National Conference was a great experience that drove great discussion around industry trends regarding new compliance regulations, particularly with 2023 enforcement deadlines approaching for the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) and Transparency in Coverage (TiC) rule. The enforcement deadline for the web-based price transparency tool could prove to have an interesting effect […]

Supreme Court Rules Health Plans Unquestionably Have Authority to Carve Out Dialysis Benefits and Reprice Dialysis Claims

Introduction On June 21, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court published its decision in Marietta Memorial Hospital, et al. v. DaVita, et al. In this decision, the Supreme Court ruled that self-funded health plans have the authority under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act to carve out dialysis benefits and set rates for such benefits at appropriate levels […]

National Survey of Health Plan Brokers Reveals Growth for Reference-Based Pricing

Renalogic releases industry report featuring trends to combat massive claims PHOENIX, AZ and CHICAGO, IL —November 8, 2021 – Renalogic, the industry leader in dialysis risk management and cost containment sponsored market research with the country’s top benefits consultants to gauge frontline perspective on the evolution of reference-based pricing (RBP) programs. With survey respondents expecting […]

Protecting People and Plans

Today, cost containment comes in many forms. In the ongoing debate about “reference based pricing” (RPB), it turns out RBP has evolved and diversified into specialized cost containment tools that have overcome some of the industry’s early barriers to success. For example, many health plans are using cost containment only in highest claims cost cohorts […]

How Much Risk Is Too Much?

Below is an example of a common conversation being had with brokers several times a week. Since the Circuit Court Rulings late last year allowed Large Dialysis Organizations (LDO’s) to weaponize the Medicare as Secondary Payer Act (MSP), many plans are “hedging their bets” and “hoping for the best” as plans that are using a […]