Republicans have swept the 2024 elections, returning Donald Trump to the White House as the 47th President and flipping the Senate to a Republican majority. Having narrowly maintained control of the House of Representatives,...more
12/11/2024
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On March 16, 2023, CMS issued Change Request 12669, which contains instructions for Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to begin the process of retroactively reimbursing DSH hospitals for inpatient days attributable to...more
Hospitals that participate in the 340B program may be entitled to additional monies from Medicare Advantage plans in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in AHA v. Becerra.
In AHA v. Becerra, a unanimous Supreme Court...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 March 13, 2020, President Trump declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency, invoking powers under the National Emergency Act and the Stafford Act. The President’s declaration, coupled with Secretary Azar’s...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it reached a $5,500,000 settlement with a biomedical research institute that received NIH grant funding–the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI)–to resolve allegations...more
2/26/2020
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On December 17, 2019, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) reintroduced legislation to address the backlog of Medicare appeals cases awaiting review before an...more
1/13/2020
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CMS and its contractors have announced that beginning January 1, 2020, the agency will repay hospitals for underpaid evaluation and management (E/M) services provided in excepted off-campus provider-based departments during...more
On July 23, 2019, Judge Rosemary Collyer of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued an opinion ruling in favor of ten Florida hospitals in their case challenging the calculation of their Medicare...more
On July 10, 2019, Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted HHS’ request for a final judgment, clearing the way for the government to immediately appeal his earlier decision that...more
7/22/2019
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In a ruling dated June 10, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with Mississippi hospitals in a dispute over the calculation of the Medicare DSH payment. Forrest General Hospital v. Azar, No....more
Last week, CMS announced on its website that for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2019, providers must comply with a so-called “longstanding” rule to claim reimbursement for crossover bad debts from the...more
United States District Court Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas issued a ruling on Friday, December 14, 2018, declaring the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional in its entirety....more
On August 25, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire in New Hampshire Hospital Association v. Azar gavehospitals another victory in their claims that CMS unlawfully reduces Medicaid Disproportionate...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently held in Saint Francis Medical Center v. Azar that Medicare’s reopening regulation, which prohibits providers from seeking to revise payment...more
On July 17, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed the D.C. district court’s dismissal of a pre-implementation challenge to CMS’s policy to cut the Medicare reimbursement rate for...more
On April 24, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Proposed Rule (CMS-1694-P). Among other changes, CMS proposes eliminating...more
On December 29, 2017, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted the government’s motion to dismiss a pre-implementation challenge to CMS’s policy to cut the Medicare reimbursement rate for...more
For the second time in less than one year, CMS has updated its instructions for completing Worksheet S-10 of the Medicare cost report for hospitals. The new instructions expand the definition of charity care, as reported in...more
On July 13, 2017, CMS issued the Calendar Year (CY) 2018 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System (ASCPS) proposed rule (Proposed Rule). CMS proposes to update OPPS...more
On January 30, 2017, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) withdrew its 340B Program Omnibus Guidelines (Guidelines) from regulatory review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). HRSA published the...more
On January 20, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled “Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal.” Executive Orders are legally binding statements...more
FDA issued a Form FDA 483 to fifteen prominent hospitals across the United States following inspections that demonstrated failures to comply with the user facility medical device reporting requirements pursuant to 21 C.F.R....more
On November 1, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its CY 2017 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Final Rule, which includes the agency’s final policies implementing legislative changes...more
Hospitals may seek redesignation to a neighboring core-based statistical area for wage index purposes under the rules that set forth the geographic reclassification process. See 42 C.F.R. § 412.230 et seq. Those rules...more