EMHS

EMHS and Geisinger Health Plan (GHP) are working together to administer health benefits for EMHS employees and their dependents beginning in 2013.

EMHS is proud to announce that the Aroostook Health Center in Mars Hill, Ross Manor and Stillwater Health Care in Bangor, and Dexter Health Care in Dexter have received Celebrating Excellence Awards by the Maine Health Care Association (MHCA). This distinguished recognition honors employees and facilities in three distinct categories: Excellence in Caregiving – Nursing and other disciplines, Excellence in Innovative Programming Awards, and Excellence in Quality Awards.

Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems (EMHS) is pleased to announce the TD Charitable Foundation, funded by TD Bank, has awarded the Youth Healthy Lifestyle Program with a $50,000 grant. The program was created in 2008 as a childhood obesity prevention project.

This morning, during a news conference held at Penobscot Community Health Care’s (PCHC) Brewer Medical Center, PCHC  announced that they will be joining EMHS’ accountable care organization, for patients who are covered by Medicare. PCHC was selected by EMHS to be the first organization to join this new effort, and is the first community health center in Maine (and one of the very first in America) to actively embrace the accountable care effort.

 Today, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its long-awaited decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – aka healthcare reform, or “Obamacare.” 
 
The Decision in  Brief:
The Affordable Care Act, including its individual mandate that virtually all Americans buy health insurance, was upheld as constitutional. There were not five votes to uphold the premise that Congress could use its power to regulate commerce between the states and require everyone to buy health insurance. However, five justices agreed that the penalty (imposed when someone refuses to buy insurance) is a kind of tax that congress can impose using its taxing power. That is all that matters. Because the mandate survives, the court did not need to decide what other parts of the statute were constitutional, except for a provision that required states to comply with new eligibility requirements for Medicaid or risk losing their funding. On that question, the court held that the provision is constitutional as long as states would only lose new funds if they didn't comply with the new requirements, rather than all of their funding.
 
What does this means for health reform and the future of healthcare delivery?

• A quickened pace to models of delivery and reimbursement
• More accountable care and other types of care delivery organizations
• A continued focus on primary care and chronic disease management
• New arrangements with insurers and providers.
• Continued financial pressure on providers  - physicians and hospitals