Exam 2: Governance and Regulation

The Surrey Medical Supply Company was formed as a limited partnership. In this partnership, Victoria Lewin is one of the limited partners and Oscar Gould is a general partner. This information indicates that, with respect to the typical characteristics of limited partnerships,

In 1994, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revised their 1993 healthcare-specific antitrust guidelines to include analytical principles relating to multiprovider networks. Under the new guidelines, the regulatory agencies will use the rule of reason to analyze joint pricing activities by competitors in physician or multiprovider networks only if

The Westchester Health Plan is using a pricing strategy that involves setting a low price in a highly price-sensitive market to stimulate revenue growth. In following this strategy, Westchester is sacrificing short-term profits for fast growth in selected markets. This information indicates that Westchester is following the pricing strategy known as

Arthur Dace, a plan member of the Bloom health plan, tried repeatedly over an extended period to schedule an appointment with Dr. Pyle, his primary care physician (PCP). Mr. Dace informally surveyed other Bloom plan members and found that many people were experiencing similar problems getting an appointment with this particular provider. Mr. Dace threatened to take legal action against Bloom, alleging that the health plan had deliberately allowed a large number of patients to select Dr. Pyle as their PCP, thus making it difficult for patients to make appointments with Dr. Pyle. Bloom recommended, and Mr. Dace agreed to use, an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) method that is quicker and less expensive than litigation. Under this ADR method, both Bloom and Mr. Dace presented their evidence to a panel of medical and legal experts, who issued a decision that Bloom's utilization management practices in this case did not constitute a form of abuse. The panel's decision is legally binding on both parties. Different types of compensation arrangements in managed care plans, from fee-for-service (FFS) arrangements to capitation arrangements, lead to different types of fraud and abuse. From the answer choices below, select the response that identifies the form of abuse in which Bloom is allegedly engaging, according to Mr. Dace's complaint, and whether this form of abuse is more likely to occur in FFS compensation arrangements or in capitation arrangements.

Health plans are allowed to appeal rules or regulations that affect them. Generally, the grounds for such appeals are limited either to procedural grounds or jurisdictional grounds. The Kabyle Health Plan appealed the following new regulations: Appeal 1 - Kabyle objected to this regulation on the ground that this regulation is inconsistent with the law. Appeal 2 - Kabyle objected to this regulation because it believed that the subject matter was outside the realm of issues that are legal for inclusion in the regulatory agency's regulations. Appeal 3 - Kabyle objected to the process by which this regulation was adopted. Of these appeals, the ones that Kabyle appealed on jurisdictional grounds were

The Sawgrass Health Center is an institution that trains healthcare professionals and performs various clinical and other types of healthcare-related research. Because Sawgrass receives government funding, it is required to provide medical care for the poor. Of the following types of health plans, Sawgrass can best be described as:

From the following answer choices, choose the term that best corresponds to this description. The SureQual Group is a group of practicing physicians and other healthcare professionals paid by the federal government to review services ordered or furnished by other practitioners in the same medical fields for the purpose of determining whether medical services provided were reasonable and necessary, and to monitor the quality of care given to Medicare patients.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has delegated its responsibility for development and oversight of regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to an office within the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS). The CMS office that is responsible for enforcing the federal requirements of HIPAA is the

In the paragraph below, a statement contains two pairs of terms enclosed in parentheses. Determine which term in each pair correctly completes the statement. Then select the answer choice containing the two terms that you have chosen. Inflation plays a role in the health plan environment by influencing the prices of healthcare services, supplies, and coverage. During an inflationary period, consumers typically have (more / less) purchasing power because the prices of goods and services increase (more / less) quickly than income.

Congress enacted three clauses relating to the preemptive effect of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). One of these clauses preserves from ERISA preemption any state law that regulates insurance, banking, or securities, with the exception of the exemption for self-funded employee benefit plans. This clause is called the

Greenpath Health Services, Inc., an HMO, recently terminated some providers from its network in response to the changing enrollment and geographic needs of the plan. A provision in Greenpath's contracts with its healthcare providers states that Greenpath can terminate the contract at any time, without providing any reason for the termination, by giving the other party a specified period of notice. The state in which Greenpath operates has an HMO statute that is patterned on the NAIC HMO Model Act, which requires Greenpath to notify enrollees of any material change in its provider network. As required by the HMO Model Act, the state insurance department is conducting an examination of Greenpath's operations. The scope of the on-site examination covers all aspects of Greenpath's market conduct operations, including its compliance with regulatory requirements.The contracts between Greenpath and its healthcare providers contain a termination provision known as

SoundCare Health Services, a health plan, recently conducted a situation analysis. One step in this analysis required SoundCare to examine its current activities, its strengths and weaknesses, and its ability to respond to potential threats and opportunities in the environment. This activity provided SoundCare with a realistic appraisal of its capabilities. One weakness that SoundCare identified during this process was that it lacked an effective program for preventing and detecting violations of law. SoundCare decided to remedy this weakness by using the 1991 Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations as a model for its compliance program. With respect to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, actions that SoundCare should take in developing its compliance program include

Several states have adopted clinical practice guidelines for treating workers' compensation injuries. Clinical practice guidelines can best be described as

The Hanford Health Plan has delegated the credentialing of its providers to the Sienna Group, a credential verification organization (CVO). If the contract between Hanford and Sienna complies with all of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) guidelines for delegation of credentialing, then this contract

The Tidewater Life and Health Insurance Company is owned by its policy owners, who are entitled to certain rights as owners of the company, and it issues both participating and nonparticipating insurance policies. Tidewater is considering converting to the type of company that is owned by individuals who purchase shares of the company's stock. Tidewater is incorporated under the laws of Illinois, but it conducts business in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. Tidewater established the Diversified Corporation, which then acquired various subsidiary firms that produce unrelated products and services. Tidewater remains an independent corporation and continues to own Diversified and the subsidiaries. In order to create and maintain a common vision and goals among the subsidiaries, the management of Diversified makes decisions about strategic planning and budgeting for each of the businesses. By combining under Diversified a group of businesses that produce unrelated products and by consolidating the management of the businesses, Tidewater has achieved the type(s) of integration known as

Antitrust laws can affect the formation, merger activities, or acquisition initiatives of a health plan. In the United States, the two federal agencies that have the primary responsibility for enforcing antitrust laws are the

In the paragraph below, a statement contains two pairs of terms enclosed in parentheses. Determine which term in each pair correctly completes the statement. Then select the answer choice containing the two terms that you have chosen. One type of acquisition is called a stock purchase. In a typical stock purchase, a company acquires (51% / 100%) of the voting shares of another company's stock, thereby making the acquired company a subsidiary. The (acquired / acquiring) company holds all of the assets and liabilities of the acquired company.

The Wentworth Corporation uses a self-funded plan to provide its employees with healthcare benefits. One consequence of Wentworth's approach to providing healthcare benefits is that selffunding

There are several exceptions to the Ethics in Patient Referrals Act and its amendments (the Stark laws), which prohibit a physician from referring Medicare or Medicaid patients for certain designated services or supplies provided by entities in which the physician has a financial interest. Consider whether the situations described below qualify as exceptions to the Stark laws: Situation A: Dr. Wong is a physician in the Marvel Health Plan's provider network and has a financial relationship with Marvel arising from the health plan's compensation for his services. Marvel is not a prepaid health plan. Situation B: Dr. Ryder is a physician in the provider network of the Glen Health Plan, which is not a prepaid health plan. In situations of medical necessity, Dr. Ryder refers Glen patients to a physical therapy clinic that leases office space from him. Situation C: Dr. Yost has a compensation arrangement with a health plan for providing health services under the Medicare+Choice program. An arrangement that is exempt from the Stark laws is described in

The following statements are about market conduct examinations of health plans. Select the answer choice that contains the correct statement.