BUSINESSNews in brief - Nov. 2, 2009Health plan will reimburse physicians for online patient communications - Health Net introduces Medicare Advantage plan for Hispanic seniors - Mass. governor urges reforms for small business insurance market Health plan will reimburse physicians for online patient communicationsPhysicians in New Hampshire, New York and Vermont who are contracted with MVP Health Care are eligible for reimbursement for Web consultations. The Schenectady, N.Y., company said it will begin reimbursing physicians who use RelayHealth's Web visit consultations, starting with 200 early adopters. To raise awareness of the service, MVP is partnering with Mohawk Valley Medical Associates to offer immediate reimbursement as well as subsidies to defray the practice's costs of deploying the system to its physicians. MVP's more than 22,000 physicians will be able to access RelayHealth from any Internet connection, the plan said. The system's tools include online appointment requests and referrals, personal health records and electronic prescribing. Health Net introduces Medicare Advantage plan for Hispanic seniorsBuilding on the individual and group insurance products it calls Salud con Health Net, Los Angeles-based Health Net in October unveiled a Medicare Advantage plan tailored to Hispanic seniors in Southern California. Salud Medicare will be available to seniors in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties beginning Nov. 15. The zero-premium, zero-co-pay plan also covers the cost of transportation to medical appointments at network doctors' offices, clinics and hospitals, as well as membership to area health clubs. Mass. governor urges reforms for small business insurance marketDecrying the high cost of health insurance for small businesses, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick at an Oct. 20 news conference announced efforts by his administration to make insurance more affordable. The governor said the state's Dept. of Insurance would hold hearings and that his administration would file legislation to give the department more authority to cut rate increases and to change the small group rating process. He also said he would work to assist small businesses in developing purchasing cooperatives that could help them leverage group buying power. The print version of this content appeared in the Nov 9, 2009 issue of American Medical News. Copyright 2009 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. |
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