The Amethyst Health Plan uses a budgeting approach that requires each line of business within Amethyst's operation to justify its continued operation. Amethyst begins with the premise that no resources will be allocated for the following period unless each dollar to be spent is justified and is shown to be within departmental plans and corporate goals and objectives. The budgeting approach used by Amethyst is known as:
Answer : C
The Northwest Company offers its employees the option of choosing to receive their healthcare benefits from an HMO or from a traditional indemnity plan. The premiums for the HMO are lower than for the traditional indemnity plan. In this situation, it is correct to assume that:
1. Individual low utilizers are more likely to enroll in the traditional indemnity plan
2. Individual high utilizers are more likely to enroll in the HMO
Answer : D
Geena Falk is eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid coverage. If Ms. Falk incurs a covered expense, then:
Answer : B
The types of financial risks and costs to which a health plan is subject depends on whether the health plan provides services to the Medicare and/or Medicaid populations or to the commercial population. One distinction between providing services to the Medicare and Medicaid populations and to the commercial population is that Medicare and Medicaid enrollees typically:
Answer : C
Health plans with risk-based Medicare contracts are required to calculate and submit to CMS a Medicare adjusted community rate (Medicare ACR). Medicare ACR can be defined as the:
Answer : B
The Rathbone Company has contracted with the Jarvin Insurance Company to provide healthcare benefits to its employees. Under this contract, Rathbone assumes financial responsibility for paying 80% of its estimated annual claims and for depositing the funds necessary to pay these claims into a bank account. Although Rathbone owns the bank account, Jarvin, acting as Rathbone's agent, makes the actual claims payments from this account. Claims in excess of Rathbone's contracted percentage are paid by Jarvin. Rathbone pays to Jarvin a premium for administering the entire plan and bearing the costs of claims in excess of Rathbone's obligation. This premium is substantially lower than would be charged if Jarvin were providing healthcare coverage under a traditional fully insured group plan. Jarvin is required to pay premium taxes only on the premiums it receives from Rathbone. This information indicates that the type of alternative funding method used by Rathbone is known as a:
Answer : C
With regard to alternative funding arrangements, the part of a health plan premium that is intended to contribute to the claims reserve that a health plan maintains to pay for unusually high utilization is known as the:
Answer : C