On August 23, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced changes to its 340B Drug Pricing Program discount available to disproportionate share hospital (DSH) Covered Entities on purchases of two of J&J’s most popular drugs, STELARA...more
Last week, the D.C. Circuit held that Medicare beneficiaries “entitled to supplemental security income [(SSI)] benefits under Title XVI of the Social Security Act” means only those patients receiving cash payments for...more
On September 1, 2023, the D.C. Circuit affirmed the D.C. District Court’s decision in Pomona Valley Hosp. Med. Ctr. v. Azar, 2020 WL 5816486, at *1 (D.D.C. Sept. 30, 2020) requiring CMS to produce affirmative evidence as to...more
On August 1, 2023, CMS issued its annual Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System (LTCH PPS) Final Rule for FY 2024 (the Final Rule). In the Final Rule, CMS,...more
On June 7, 2023, CMS issued a final rule retroactively re-adopting its policy requiring patient days attributable to Medicare Part C beneficiaries (Part C days) to be counted in the Medicare fraction of the disproportionate...more
Over 2500 hospitals across the country historically have relied upon Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) Medicaid payments for financial stability. These DSH payments, made in large measure to hospitals with high Medicaid...more
On February 28, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule that would change how Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments are calculated with respect to the counting of...more
On February 24, 2023, CMS issued a proposed rule that would modify the Medicare Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payment regulation to limit the universe of Section 1115 demonstration beneficiaries who can be “regarded...more
On August 1, 2022, CMS issued its annual Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System Final Rule for FY 2023 (the Final Rule). In the Final Rule, CMS...more
The U.S. Supreme Court settled an Administrative Procedures Act (APA) dispute on June 24, 2022, involving Medicare's formula to adjust rates paid to safety-net hospitals, clarifying a statute that dictates how to calculate...more
In a move welcomed by the growing number of hospitals forced out of the 340B Program due to falling disproportionate share hospital (DSH) adjustment percentages, Congress has passed a measure offering a chance to rejoin....more
On December 17, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the fiscal year (FY) 2022 inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) final rule. In light of the significant volume of comments, CMS declined...more
This is a big legal week for hospitals and health systems as the U.S. Supreme Court heard not one, but TWO different oral arguments related to federal government payments to hospitals and health systems. In both cases, the...more
On July 2, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court granted petitions to hear two cases related to Medicare payments for health care providers. The Court will consider a hospital appeal of a Ninth Circuit decision that vacated part of a...more
Recently, my colleague Regina DeSantis told you about the ongoing saga involving disputes between 340B contract pharmacies and pharmaceutical manufacturers. We often write about the 340B program on our blog because of the...more
The 340B Program has gained national attention over the last decade, in part due to the opportunities it provides to generate revenue for participating entities without risk of significant enforcement penalties for...more
On November 13, 2020, the D.C. Court of Appeals upheld a key ruling regarding disproportionate share hospital (“DSH”) payments, in Bethesda Health Inc. v. Azar, a significant victory for hospitals. Hospitals that treat a...more
The Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) this week issued Alert (AA20-301A) titled North Korean Advanced Persistent Threat Focus: Kimsuky warning U.S. businesses, and...more
In a Federal Register publication last month, CMS announced that it intended to retroactively adopt a change to its Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) regulation. Specifically, it proposed adopting a 2014 change...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has withdrawn its proposed Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation (MFAR), according to a September 14, 2020, announcement via Twitter by Administrator Seema Verma. ...more
On September 2, 2020, CMS issued the fiscal year (FY) 2021 final rule for the hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) and long-term care hospital (LTCH) prospective payment system (the Final Rule). This article...more
On August 4th, CMS released a proposed rule titled Treatment of Medicare Part C Days in the Calculation of a Hospital’s Medicare Disproportionate Patient Percentage (DPP). We’ve written before about the Medicaid...more
On August 6, 2020, CMS published a proposed regulation that would require patient days attributable to Medicare Part C beneficiaries (Part C days) to be counted in the Medicare fraction of the disproportionate share hospital...more
On May 11, 2020, CMS issued its annual Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule for FY 2021 (the Proposed Rule), which will affect...more
In this episode, Richard Church and Victoria Hamscho discuss recent developments in the 340B Drug Pricing Program, including recent COVID-19 guidance by the Health Resources and Services Administration and hospital requests...more