Insurers to expand flu vaccine funding
Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 5:35pm EST
Boston Business Journal - by Julie M. Donnelly
A group of private health insurers has agreed to foot the bill for the H1N1 vaccination clinics that are going on at public health clinics around the state. It’s expected to cost $25 million and will alleviate some pressure on cities and towns, which have sustained multiple budget cuts.
The H1N1 vaccine is free and is distributed by the federal government to local health departments and physicians’ offices around the country. But it’s not free to staff the clinics, and to pay for the needles and other consumables.
The Patrick Administration held a news conference Tuesday to announce the deal.
Mary Lou Buyse of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans said it was the right thing to do. “This is a really bad pandemic - millions of people need to be immunized and if we don’t do it, it will get worse,” Buyse said in a interview. She agreed that a failure to provide widespread immunizations would also cost insurers more since more people would get sick.
Blue Cross Blue Shield cited higher costs from the flu as a reason for worsened financial performance in the third quarter. Other insurers said it was one of many factors that has caused their costs to rise over the past year.
Commonwealth Medicine, a non-profit health care consulting organization affiliated with UMass Medical Center, will act as the third party administrator to bill insurers so they can reimburse the municipalities.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has also issued a separate RFP asking organizations to step forward who might be able to come up with a pilot program to help arrange reimbursements for vaccinations that take place in school-based clinics. Proposals were due Nov 30 and the winning organization stands to gin $100,000 in federal stimulus money
All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 5:35pm EST
Boston Business Journal - by Julie M. Donnelly
A group of private health insurers has agreed to foot the bill for the H1N1 vaccination clinics that are going on at public health clinics around the state. It’s expected to cost $25 million and will alleviate some pressure on cities and towns, which have sustained multiple budget cuts.
The H1N1 vaccine is free and is distributed by the federal government to local health departments and physicians’ offices around the country. But it’s not free to staff the clinics, and to pay for the needles and other consumables.
The Patrick Administration held a news conference Tuesday to announce the deal.
Mary Lou Buyse of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans said it was the right thing to do. “This is a really bad pandemic - millions of people need to be immunized and if we don’t do it, it will get worse,” Buyse said in a interview. She agreed that a failure to provide widespread immunizations would also cost insurers more since more people would get sick.
Blue Cross Blue Shield cited higher costs from the flu as a reason for worsened financial performance in the third quarter. Other insurers said it was one of many factors that has caused their costs to rise over the past year.
Commonwealth Medicine, a non-profit health care consulting organization affiliated with UMass Medical Center, will act as the third party administrator to bill insurers so they can reimburse the municipalities.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has also issued a separate RFP asking organizations to step forward who might be able to come up with a pilot program to help arrange reimbursements for vaccinations that take place in school-based clinics. Proposals were due Nov 30 and the winning organization stands to gin $100,000 in federal stimulus money
All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.
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