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Healthcare Journal of NEW ORLEANS
I
NOV / DEC 2013
43
Reeves Appointed to
National Forum
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana
announced that Christy Reeves has been
appointed to the prestigious Executive Forum
at Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizen-
ship. Reeves serves a dual role as director of Com-
munity Relations at Blue Cross and Blue Shield
of Louisiana and executive director of the Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation,
the company’s charitable subsidiary.
As an Executive Forummember, Reeveswill rep-
resent Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana,
currently the only health insurer at the table, while
sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with executives from
Microsoft, UPS, Toyota, and Campbell’s Soup.
Forummembers act as an international advisory
council to the Center, providing leadership, inspi-
ration, knowledge and expertise in the field of cor-
porate citizenship.
Since 2008, Blue Cross andBlue Shield of Louisi-
ana has been an active member of the Center for
Corporate Citizenship at Boston College. Reeves
served on the Center’s Corporate Community
Involvement Roundtable for the past two years. It
was her dedicated service on the Roundtable that
led to her appointment to the Executive Forum.
As the nation’s leading authority on corporate
social responsibility, the Center provides lead-
ership in establishing corporate citizenship as a
business essential, helping companies become
both economic and social assets to the communi-
ties they serve.
You can read the Foundation’s Building aHealth-
ier Louisiana Corporate Responsibility Report at
www.ourhomelouisiana.org.
Analysis Shows Skilled
Nursing Improving
The Louisiana Nursing Home Association (LNHA)
recently released an analysis of the Federal Five-
Star Quality Rating System (Five-Star) by the Cen-
ters for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
The analysis shows the number of Louisiana
skilled nursing centers that achieved the high-
est rankings of quality has increased, while the
centers receiving the lowest rankings were down
significantly.
The Five-Star System is a composite ranking
based on scores in three domains—staffing, qual-
ity measures (QM) and health inspections con-
ducted by the state survey agency — with a score
of fivebeing thebest. All Five-Star composite scores
and results are reported on the CMS web site.
When the federal Five-Star systemwas launched
in December 2008, 16% of all Louisiana skilled
nursing centers were scored with either a 4- or
5-Star ranking. As of July 2013, the most recent
month CMS has on record, 31%of centers were in
the top two categories, a 96% increase. Louisiana’s
1-star facilities havedecreasedby 47%since 2008.
In comparing Louisiana to national trends, pro-
gram data showed that, for the same five-year
timeframe, the profession saw an increase in the
proportion of skilled nursing centers receiving 4
and 5-Star rankings, and a decline in the number
of 1-Star centers. In 2008, for example, 35.5% of
centers in the U.S. ranked 4 and 5-Star. By July
2013, the proportion of top centers grew 38.5%
to nearly half of all centers in the country (49.2%).
Coalition Collecting
Caregiver Resources
November isNational Caregivers AwarenessMonth
and the Louisiana LifespanRespiteCoalitionwants
to help educate caregivers about the services and
supports available to them throughout Louisiana
by inviting churches, non-profits, patient organiza-
tions, andanyone aiding the caregiver topost their
information at LouisianaAnswers.com.
To better coordinate resources, semi-
nars and services, the Governor’s Office of
Elderly Affairs is supporting the Lifespan
Respite Coalition’s efforts by providing free
web-listings at www.LouisianaAnswers.com.
Let the Games Begin
Despite the fact that the federal government shut
down at midnight on October 1st in a standoff
relating to funding for the Affordable Care Act,
the health insurance exchanges required by the
ACA still began enrolling customers that day as
scheduled…sort of. System overloads and oper-
ating glitches resulted in few visitors success-
fully registering during the first few days, but the
exchange is open for business despite the govern-
ment shutdown.
Because Louisiana opted not to create a state
exchange, Louisianians must shop the exchange
via the federal Health Insurance Marketplace on
www.healthcare.gov or purchase insurance from
an insurance agent. According toBlue Cross &Blue
Shieldof Louisiana, one of the insurance providers
participating in the exchange, in order to shop on
the Marketplace you will need:
• A personal email account.
• A Marketplace account that you can create at
www.Healthcare.gov beginning today
• Social Security numbers and birth dates for
each member of your household who needs cov-
erage on this plan
• Employer and income information for every
member of your household who needs coverage
on this plan (pay stubs, W-2 forms, etc.)
• Policy numbers for any current health insur-
ance plans, if you have coverage.
Meanwhile a report released by the Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) finds that in
Louisiana, consumers will see increased compe-
tition in the Health Insurance Marketplace, lead-
ing to new and affordable choices for consumers.
According to the report, Louisiana consumerswill
be able to choose from an average of 40 health
plans in theMarketplace. HHS also saidpremiums
nationwide would be around 16 percent lower
than originally expected.
The six-month long open enrollment period runs
through March 2014. Coverage begins as early as
January 1, or in as few as 100 days.
Family Arrested for
Medicaid Fraud
A criminal investigation by the Attorney General’s
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has unraveled a Fol-
som family’s alleged pattern of Medicaid fraud,
criminal conspiracy, and financial exploitation
arising from more than $400,000 in Medicaid-
funded care paid on behalf of a disabled rela-
tive. Three family members face a combined 24
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