Feedback & Followups – May 2014

Virginia health-care enrollment passes goal before deadline
Virginia ex­­ceeded its enrollment target on healthcare.gov well before the national sign-up period ended in March.

By the end of February, nearly 103,000 Virginia residents had enrolled in health plans using the national health-care marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The Virginia figure is higher than the goal of 101,600 state enrollees set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Final Virginia enrollment figures through March had not been released by mid-April. Nationally, 8 million Americans signed up for health care using the federal website, meeting a goal set by the Obama administration before healthcare.gov’s disastrous initial rollout last October.

Virginia was one of 36 states using the federal website instead of setting up its own insurance exchange.

The commonwealth has about 1 million uninsured residents. An estimated 470,000 of them qualified for coverage under the exchange. Another 400,000 would qualify for Medicaid coverage if Virginia’s program was expanded. Virginia Business has followed the progress of the ACA in the commonwealth since its passage in 2010.

Health Diagnostic Laboratory opens My HDL Hub health centers
Richmond-based Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc. has opened five My HDL Hub health centers. The centers are described as places where patients can receive comprehensive blood tests and get guidance from the company’s health consultants.

The first locations are at the Bon Secours Heart & Vascular Institute at Reynolds Crossing and acac Fitness & Wellness Center, both in Henrico County;

The Boulders office park in Chesterfield County; Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center in Hanover County; and in Knoxville, Tenn.

In addition, Virginia Business reported in April that HDL has hired an investment bank, New York-based Cain Brothers as a financial adviser, but the company’s CEO, Tonya Mallory, says the business is not for sale.  She said the investment bank has been engaged “to assist us in the evaluation of strategic partnership opportunities and growth initiatives.”

Virginia Business featured Mallory last December as the Virginia Business Person of the Year.