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 self-funding
Determine whether the following statement is true or false:
Although most-favored-nation (MFN) clauses in contracts between health plans and healthcare providers are not per se illegal, they should be reviewed under the rule of reason analysis for antitrust purposes.
The following situations illustrate per se violations of federal antitrust laws:
Situation A - Two groups of providers agreed among themselves that each provider will do business with health plans only on a fee-for-service basis.
Situation B - In order to avoid competing with each other, two independent, competing physician-hospital organizations (PHOs) divide the geographic areas in which they will market their services.
From the following answer choices, select the response that correctly identifies the types of per se violations illustrated by these situations.
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
Nightingale Health Systems, a health plan, operates in a state that requires health plans to allow enrollees to visit obstetricians and gynecologists without a referral from a primary care provider. This information indicates that Nightingale must comply with a type of mandate known as a:
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) adopted the Health Maintenance Organization Model Act (HMO Model Act) to regulate the development and operations of HMOs. One true statement regarding the HMO Model Act is that the act
The Good & Well Pharmacy, a Medicaid provider of outpatient drugs, is subject to the prospective drug utilization review (DUR) mandates of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA '90). One component of prospective DUR is screening. In this context, when Good & Well is involved in the process of screening, the pharmacy is
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