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Key Provisions of the Affordable Care Act

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The Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” was designed to assure that all Americans regardless of health status have access to affordable health insurance. The Affordable Car Act was signed into law March 23, 2010. The primary goal of this act was to decrease barriers for obtaining health care coverage and allow Americans to access needed health care services (Affordable Care Act Summary, n.d). After the legislation is fully implemented in 2014, all Americans will be required to have health insurance through their employer, a public program such as Medicaid and/or Medicare or by purchasing insurance through the health insurance marketplace exchange (Affordable Care Act Summary, n.d). I will identify three parts of The Affordable Care Act …show more content…

They will now receive payments from the quality of care they provide to their patients. Those with higher based value will receive higher payments than their counterparts (Berenson 2010). I think this is very important because the healthcare system has been volume driven for so long that quality healthcare has been an issue for quite some time. In addition to value, this would definitely improve quality and efficiency needed for better patient outcomes.
Why is the healthcare system shifting from volume to value based? Why change the requirements now? Well, the traditional fee for service system allowed providers to receive higher pay based on higher patient admissions (Miller 2009). It is understood that just because more patients come to you for care does not necessarily mean that they are getting the best care. In fact, providers with increased patients may not be able to give each patient the highest level of care due to heavier workloads and increased patient traffic. The fee-for-service system allows providers to receive payments based on the volume and complexity of services they provide (Miller 2009). Higher intensity of care does not equal higher quality care. Hospitals, physicians and other health care providers gain increased profits by delivering more services to more people, which drive health care costs (Miller 2009). Moreover, current payment systems often penalize providers financially for keeping people healthy, like ordering a patient to stay an extra

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