News Releases

Hospitals Meet to Discuss Upcoming Open Enrollment Period

On Wednesday, July 6, The Center for Health Affairs convened a meeting with the Region V U.S. Office of Health and Human Service (HHS), Enroll America and its Cleveland-based hospitals to discuss the upcoming open enrollment period for Ohio’s Federally-facilitated Marketplace. The meeting, which was held at The Center’s offices, included representatives from the office of Regional HHS Director Kathleen Falk, Enroll America, Human Arc, and Advanced Patient Advocacy, who participated in a roundtable discussion on Marketplace enrollment practices.

The purpose of the meeting was for hospitals to share their experiences with Marketplace-eligible patients that visit their facilities without health insurance, and to learn how to better connect those patients to coverage during the next open enrollment period. Representatives from Enroll America, a national healthcare enrollment coalition, shared best practices for hospital-specific outreach and enrollment methods and offered education on their online tools to streamline the health insurance application process, known as the Get Covered Connector. 

While Ohio, and specifically Northeast Ohio, experienced above average Marketplace participation during the last open enrollment period, there remain hard-to-reach pockets of uninsured residents that require enhanced outreach strategies and coordination between providers and in-person assisters. Moving forward, The Center’s member hospitals will continue to work with HHS and Enroll America to plan for the next open enrollment period, which begins on Nov. 1, 2016.

For questions about this topic or the upcoming open enrollment period, please contact Tony Gutowski, manager of government relations, at 216.255.3610 or via email for more information.