Case managers today face significant challenges when working with patients who abuse opioids. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s 2016 figures, some 2 million Americans had a substance use disorder involving prescription pain medicine in 2015, and an additional 591,000 had a heroin use disorder.
CMS released the Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2019 final rule April 9 to give states additional flexibility when choosing benefits in essential health benefit benchmark plans offered under health insurance marketplaces.
A national coverage determination (NCD) related to implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) is causing some confusion. The NCD was issued on February 15, and the changes, while billed as “relatively minimal,” may actually require significant process alterations.
CMS recently released its annual report of Health Insurance Exchange open enrollment, which revealed that open enrollment is down from 12.2 million in 2017 to 11.8 million for 2018.
