The Affordable Care Act (ACA) Special Open Enrollment Period will allow new enrollments and/or changes from existing health plans If you don’t have health insurance you may be eligible to enroll in an Affordable Care Act (ACA) plan during the 2021 Special Open...
Community-based organizations are struggling to meet the growing demand for services because of the economic fall-out from COVID-19. And it looks like things are going to get worse before they get better. The number of COVID-19 cases is rising across the country and...
Throughout 2020, COVID-19 has tested every aspect of our healthcare practices and systems. This has created the necessity for new creative methods to counter-act the COVID-19 virus at all levels. Due to the lack of information, testing, and turn-around many hospitals...
Throughout 2020, more than a million individuals contracted COVID-19 in the United States. While this placed a huge physical demand on the delivery of products and services like PPE, ventilators, and round the clock healthcare workers, it also completely loaded our...
Changes to physician outpatient CPT coding for evaluation and management (E/M) services take place on January 1, 2021. The billing changes impact more than 50% of E/M services for all providers who see patients in offices or clinics. The changes impact commercial...
What you need to know for Open Enrollment 2021 It is that time of year again, open enrollment season is only a few days aways. Open enrollment is the period of time when individuals can enroll in an Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance plan or make changes...
What is the problem? Since the onset of Covid-19, there has been a shortage of primary care physicians nationally. Keeping consumers healthy is extremely important and that means maintaining primary care. Over the years, studies have shown that maintaining...
I have a lot of family members who are on Medicare, and my phone is already starting to ring as Open Enrollment, which runs from October 15-December 7, 2020, is getting underway. They, like many people, are confused by all of the options Medicare offers. Someone new...
As if 2020 has not been stressful enough, now scammers are using the COVID-19 pandemic to prey on Medicare and Medicaid recipients by promising free care to their patients in order to gain their personal and health information, including their dates of birth, social...
Did You Say There is Another Virus to Worry About? The last thing we want to think about is another virus that can make us sick or cause death. Butas the weather turns colder, flu season knocks on our doors. This year more than ever, youdon’t want to let it in. What...
Many people have been putting the Affordable Care Act on blast. If you haven't noticed, the rate increases are astronomical. Here in Tennessee, Blue Cross Blue Shield raised its rates by 62 percent. In Texas, Blue Cross Blue Shield raised their rates by over 60...
There is a very simple device that we all have in our homes that we may never think of. When I say the term “back-flow preventer,” unless you are a plumber, this may be the first time you have read this term in ten years. This device is used to keep contaminated water...
By: Rachel Cullor Upon researching different resources and updates for the carriers, we have compiled the following information that we feel may be helpful to our clients. Most carriers are offering Telehealth services right now, and most ACA plans include wellness...
By: Rachel Cullor There are many things that health insurance carriers are doing right now to ensure that their members are well taken care of during this pandemic. The providers in our area include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, Ambetter, and Cigna who are all...
By: Rachel Quinn Telehealth, a term taking the nation by storm due to recent Covid-19 related events, is becoming an important part of many American’s everyday vocabulary. Healthcare professionals have urged people to stay in their homes as the spread of...
By Rachel Quinn Open Enrollment is an annual forty five day window that Americans have to enroll into Affordable Health Care or Marketplace Health Insurance. During this period you can go over your health care options for the upcoming year and enroll into a plan that...
Understanding Common Insurance Terms By: Rachel Quinn Open enrollment is an important time for many Americans, especially those with health related issues. This short window of time is when everyone has the opportunity to enroll in a Marketplace Health Insurance...
By: Rachel Cullor With every state in the United States affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, and millions of people under self-quarantine or under orders to stay at home, it is definitely a scary time for the country. Doctors, nurses, and other medical experts are...
CMS released an announcement Wednesday, March 25th, that they will allow issuers of qualified health plans and stand-alone dental plans on the Health Insurance Marketplace and State Based Exchanges to extend binder payment and ongoing premium payment deadlines during...
By: Rachel Cullor March 17th, 2020 2020 has started out much differently than 2019. With the detection of the COVID-19 virus and efforts to slow the spread, a lot of measures have been taken that disrupt our normal routine. The first US case of COVID-19 appeared in...
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is expanding their coverage area for 2020, offering individual Marketplace plans in Memphis and Nashville for the first time in a couple of years. Other TN carriers such as Cigna, Oscar, and Ambetter are also expanding which proves...
Health Reimbursement Accounts have specifically been utilized up until now by employers as a way to help employees offset deductibles, coinsurance, and sometimes, the copays they incur when using their group health plan. Employers were barred from offering HRAs to...
Pharmacy Benefit Managers, PBMs, are firms that negotiate prices between drug manufacturers and insurance companies. Amazon is looking into bypassing this step by negotiating with the insurance company themselves and potentially lowering costs for their customers....
Obamacare is expanding in a good way. Employers will now have more options to provide employees with more customized benefits. Traditionally, Health Reimbursement Accounts, commonly known as HRAs, involve employees being reimbursed by the employer as a way for the...
