Podcast — Drug Pricing: How the Demise of Chevron Deference and Other Litigation May Impact the Pharmaceutical Industry
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
The cyber breach at Change Healthcare in 2024 stands out as one of the most significant cyber-attacks in recent memory. Its repercussions extend far beyond immediate industry disruptions, resonating deeply in regulatory...more
In the proposed CY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) published in the Federal Register on July 31, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is soliciting comments on a proposal to revise the Medicare Claims...more
On June 28, 2024, SCOTUS overturned the long-standing Chevron doctrine in its decision Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce. The Court’s ruling will have a significant impact on...more
Today marks one month since United Health Group’s (UHG) Change Healthcare reported that it had been hit by a cybersecurity attack. The attack has caused a major disruption to the US healthcare system, significantly impacting...more
Change Healthcare Cyberattack - On February 21, 2024, Change Healthcare—a healthcare technology company owned by UnitedHealth Group—issued a statement that it had been impacted by a ransomware attack. According to Change...more
Congress is on its way to extending the stop-gap funding bills into March (and may have already done so by the time you read this). Absent from the legislation to continue funding the federal government is a “doc fix” that...more
In what passes for neon lights in the regulatory world, CMS said Medicare Advantage (MA) plans must follow the two-midnight rule, its case-by-case exception and the inpatient-only (IPO) list, according to the final 2024 rule...more
CMS recently issued a Medicare Learning Network (MLN) Matters article in connection with Change Request 11042 released on April 12, 2019 (the Change Request), which revises the Medicare Claims Processing Manual (Publication...more
On August 13, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued instructions to Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and Qualified Independent Contractors (QICs) regarding the scope of review for...more
CMS issued a special edition MLN Matters meant to be effective August 1, 2015. The guidance reflects CMS instructions to Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and Qualified Independent Contractors (QICs) regarding the...more
On July 8, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a Proposed Rule regarding the 2016 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (“OPPS”). The Proposed Rule, in addition to proposing updates...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
On August 6, 2014, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia enjoined CMS, its Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs), and the Provider Reimbursement Review Board (PRRB) from applying the...more
According to two reports issued by OIG on July 25, the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) for Jurisdictions 13 and 14 made overpayments of approximately $2.7 million and approximately $1.3 million, respectively, for...more
In March 2011, when CMS published regulations to implement the Medicare enrollment screening provisions of the Affordable Care Act, the requirement for background fingerprint screening was put on hold. In a recent Special...more
The OIG recently released a report summarizing the details of its study regarding compliance with the requirement that physicians (or certain practitioners working with them) who certify beneficiaries as eligible for Medicare...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has extended the deadline for compliance with the two-midnight rule through September 30, 2014. The rule provides that if an inpatient stay crosses two midnights, the...more
On February 24, 2014, CMS posted a list of updates to its guidance on the new Two-Midnight Rule and the Probe and Educate Audits. Several of the more major updates are discussed below....more
In February 2014, CMS made two announcements that affect future Medicare audits. First, CMS instructed RACs to stop issuing post-payment additional documentation requests (ADRs) after February 21 and instructed MACs to stop...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the Department of Health and Human Services recently issued Transmittal 505 modifying Section 3.2.3 of the Medicare Program Integrity Manual. CMS employs a variety of...more
On February 24, 2014, CMS released additional guidance addressing implementation of the revised inpatient hospital admission standards adopted in the 2014 IPPS Final Rule and new instructions to the Medicare Administrative...more
Effective March 6, 2014, Medicare contractors may automatically deny claims that are “related” to other claims that have been denied as a result of pre- or postpayment review. Contractors need not issue Additional...more
On February 18, 2014, CMS announced that it is in the procurement process for the next round of Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program contracts and that the transition to new contracts will include a pause in RAC audits in...more
February is the last date Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) and Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) can issue additional documentation requests (ADRs) as the current Recovery Audit Program contracts are coming to a...more
Probe and Educate Audits of Inpatient Admissions Extended - CMS announced on its Inpatient Hospital Review website on Friday that it was extending the probe and education audits of inpatient admissions for an...more