The CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization Rules
Podcast — Drug Pricing: How Are Payers Responding to the IRA?
Findings from Gibbins’ Annual Healthcare Bankruptcy Report
A Fond Farewell: Musings on the End of the Medicare Advantage Hospice Carve-In Demonstration
Video: Braidwood v. Becerra – Challenging the Affordable Care Act’s Preventive Services Coverage Provision – Thought Leaders in Health Law
Hospice and Home Health Survey Perspectives: A Conversation with Kim Skehan, VP of Accreditation at CHAP
Transparency and the Open Payments Program
Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Video Podcast | Episode 173: Improving rural health care with Dr. Kevin Bennett, the Director of the Research Center for Transforming Health and the
Counsel That Cares - The Private Payer's Perspective on Value-Based Care
Podcast: Health Equity – Behind the Buzzwords – Diagnosing Health Care
A Very “Special” Episode: Amid Controversy, CMS Launches the Hospice Special Focus Program
Grace from CMS: Unexpected Good News on HIS and CAHPS Appeals
This Bandwagon Has a Broken Wheel: OIG Joins the Inconsistent Approach to Hospice GIP Claims
Behind the Curtain: Enhanced Provider Enrollment Oversight
Survey Woes: CMS Ramps Up Hospice Survey Program and Consequences
Inflation Reduction Act’s Drug Price Negotiation Provisions – What Now? – Diagnosing Health Care Podcast
A Glimpse Into the Other Side: Understanding the Perspective of Government Enforcers
I Understood There Would Be No Math: Audits, Extrapolations, and a New Set of Rules
Podcast: Inflation Reduction Act’s Drug Price Negotiation Provisions – What’s Next? - Diagnosing Health Care
Quick Takeaways From the 2024 Proposed Hospice Wage Index Rule
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) was signed into law by President Biden on August 16, 2022, and includes key sections addressing climate and clean energy, corporate taxes and health care. The health care provisions...more
Although I previously declared January 2024 Medicare Advantage (MA) Month, this week has also been filled with news about the MA program. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rate announcement...more
Earlier this week, President Biden released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 President’s Budget. As a reminder, every year, the White House releases a budget that serves as its official funding request to Congress for the following...more
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the United States, states, payers, and providers are looking for ways to expand access to telehealth services. Telehealth is an essential tool in ensuring patients are able to access...more
There have been several significant developments with regard to Federal government telehealth policy. These include the recently enacted appropriations bill funding the Federal government for the balance of the fiscal year, a...more
On August 6, 2019, CMS finalized its 2020 hospice rule, including adopting, without substantial modification, two controversial and material changes to the hospice benefit: Rebasing payment rates to shift about $500...more
President Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act on December 13, 2016. The act encourages biomedical research investment and facilitates innovation review and approval processes, but also serves as a vehicle for a wide...more
On November 30, 2016, the House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Cures Act, a bill intended to modernize health care delivery and speed up and improve medical research and innovations by removing bureaucratic...more
On November 2, 2015, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that significantly changes how Medicare pays for outpatient services furnished at certain hospital locations. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (“BBA”)...more
Ways & Means Leadership Changes – Health Policy Implications Looming: As Congress pushes forward with a two-year budget deal, and new Speaker Paul Ryan begins his tenure as the top Republican in the House of...more
Without fanfare or any significant discussion, the Bipartisan Budget Act (Act) contains the first legislative action related to provider-based status—and it is a sweeping action with negative financial consequences to many...more
On October 26, 2015, Congressional and White House budget negotiators released the legislative text of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. The Act is aimed primarily at lifting the Federal debt limit and avoiding a looming...more
On October 8 and 9, 2015, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) held its second meeting of the 2015-2016 session. Commissioners met to examine ways to improve the Medicare Advantage (MA) payment system, including...more
On September 10-11, 2015, MedPAC held a meeting to discuss several issues related to the Medicare program, including (1) improving the Open Payments program, which makes public the payments from drug and device manufacturers...more
On September 8, 2015, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its comments to the proposed rule that will begin implementing the new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) for physician services, in...more
This Week: CMS Releases Guidance on Fast Track Process for 1115 Waivers for Medicaid and CHIP... Healthcare.gov CEO Sends Letter to State Insurance Commissioners Concerning 2016 Premium Decisions... Medicare Board of Trustees...more
This Week: Leading Up to the SCOTUS King v. Burwell Decision... House Votes to Repeal the Medical Device Tax... CMS Announces It Will Bolster Transitional Reinsurance Payments... MedPAC Releases June Report to Congress....more
This Week: CMS Releases Three Documents on Biosimilar Reimbursement... SCOTUS: Agencies, Not State Courts, in Charge of Medicaid Rate Setting... HHS OIG and Treasury IG Release Report on ACA’s Advanced Premium Tax Credits....more
MACS to Hold Certain 2015 Date-of-Service Claims – CMS announced on December 29, 2014, that Medicare Administrative Contractors will hold claims containing 2015 services paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS)...more
A provision of the Affordable Care Act includes a requirement that hospitals disclose their standard charges to the public. 42 U.S.C. § 300gg-18(e) states that “[e]ach hospital operating within the United States shall for...more
In This Issue: - Policymakers Continue Bi-partisan Push to Accelerate ACO Evolution - Implementation of the Affordable Care Act - Other Federal Regulatory Initiatives - Other Congressional and...more
In This Issue: - Top News ..The Congressional Agenda is Light as the Focus Shifts to the Midyear Elections ..Physician Supervision Requirement for Small and Rural Hospitals ..CMS Offers Hospitals...more
MedPAC Recommends Short- and Long-Term ACO Changes – In a comment letter sent to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner on June 16, 2014, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) outlined certain challenges associated...more
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) recently submitted its annual report on Medicare payments to Congress. The report analyzes Medicare payment policy and makes payment update recommendations relating to...more
We reported in last week’s Health Headlines that the commissioners of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) voted unanimously on January 16, 2014 to recommend that Congress reduce hospital outpatient rates for...more