Dr. Ellen Andrews, expert speaker on the March 28 CSG health policy webinar “Value Over Volume: Paying for Quality,” urged state policymakers to be brave as they implement payment reforms that depend on the right incentives to achieve better health outcomes. She suggested to webinar attendees that the time is right for transforming delivery and payment systems–- regardless of the findings of the Supreme Court on the Affordable Care Act–-because the status quo is simply not sustainable.

The numbers tell the story: 483 million people are on Facebook every day, there are 50 million daily Twitter users and one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second. Using social media and Web-based interaction tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is no longer a choice for public officials who want to remain relevant. Yet taking the Internet plunge can be daunting to say the least. Much has been made of ever-changing privacy policies and everyone has heard at least one nightmare story of a Facebook post or tweet gone awry.

Staff from CSG’s National Center for Interstate Compacts (NCIC) hosted a webinar highlighting the growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse.  During the March 7 session participants heard from two subject matter experts about the dangers of prescription drug abuse, state sponsored prescription monitoring programs, and CSG’s efforts to develop a prescription monitoring compact that would allow states to securely share prescription drug data across state lines.  

Sherry Glied, assistant secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, spoke on the CSG webinar Feb. 28 on the recent federal decision to allow state policymakers to set “essential health benefits.”  The federal Affordable Care Act requires that individual and small group insurance sold in states after Jan. 1, 2014, both inside and outside the health insurance exchange, include a minimum package of essential health benefits (EHB). The Department of Health and Human Services estimates these plans will cover 30 million people, some of whom may currently be covered by plans with fewer benefits.Sherry Glied, assistant secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, spoke on the CSG webinar Feb. 28 on the recent federal decision to allow state policymakers to set “essential health benefits.”

Medicaid is probably the biggest elephant in any room where policymakers are discussing state budgets, state policy or health care. Indeed, Medicaid made the CSG Top 5 Issues for 2012 in both health and fiscal and economic policy published earlier this month by CSG.

The CSG webinar “Medicaid Managed Care: Asking the Right Questions,” broadcast on January 12, 2012, addressed one way policymakers are looking to bend the Medicaid cost curve. States are using managed care to cover about two-thirds of all Medicaid members.

States are taking significant action to establish health insurance exchanges required under the Affordable Care Act.

That’s according to Steve Larsen, deputy administrator and director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who took part in a Dec. 6 webinar, “Health Exchanges: Understanding State Options and Deadlines,” sponsored by The Council of State Governments.

As states continue to struggle with budget shortfalls in the face of increasing obligations in areas like education, pensions and unemployment insurance, more and more states are exploring reforms to their existing tax codes in the search for new revenue streams. This webinar featured a discussion of the holes in many states' existing tax codes--the sales tax code in particular--and how states can reform their tax structure to capture more revenue. 

As the president of River Twice Research, where he analyzes economic and political trends, Zachary Karabell challenges common assumptions ranging from global economics to environmental sustainability. With a prolific, award-winning writing career, an illustrious background on Wall Street and a doctorate from Harvard, Karabell brings a unique perspective to the discussion of globalization, the domestic and world economy, the greening of business and the shape of things to come.