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As President Trump and members of both houses of Congress work to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”), the Urgent Care Association (UCA) has revealed several health reform principles it will use to evaluate emerging legislative alternatives to the ACA. UCA says it will support policies that recognize urgent care should be treated as an essential health insurance benefit and included as an important element of value-based care, as well as those that pay for performance initiatives. The principles also state:
- Site-appropriate delivery of care should be encouraged through consumer financial incentives
- Having a high-deductible healthcare plan should not lead to avoidance of necessary care, including acute care needs in the urgent care setting
- Health insurers should be allowed flexibility to meet network adequacy requirements for primary care by contracting with urgent care centers and providers
- State Medicaid flexibility must be coupled with financial incentives directed at urgent care centers to improve their Medicaid patient mix, and, consequently, to reduce unnecessary, high-cost hospital emergency department visits by this patient population.
UCA Readies for U.S. Health Reform with New Principles