Proposed federal rules that would limit the ability of health plans to craft narrow provider networks for the Affordable Care Act exchanges would benefit some hospitals, but tighter regulation could create an unbearable level of risk for insurers, market analysts say. In a healthcare "sector comment" released recently, Moody's Investors Service predicts that plans to limit narrow networks in 2015 would benefit rural hospitals and safety net hospitals because those facilities are the most likely to be left out of a narrow network.
"If [hospitals] are considered essential, that would protect them from being excluded from a narrow network," Moody's Senior Vice President Lisa Martin said Monday of the new rules under consideration at the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. "[They provide] protection in terms of market share." Read the article in Health Leaders Media here.
