Hospice Audit Series: Beyond Part D, OIG Scrutinizes the Hospice Industry to the Tune of $6.6 Billion
Kim Brandt on the Latest Washington Healthcare News
Part Two: The MFN Drug Pricing Rule and the Rebate Rule: Where Do We Go From Here?
Part One: Two new Medicare Drug Pricing Rules in One Day: What are the MFN and the Rebate Drug Pricing Rules?
K&L Gates Triage: 340B Update: CMS Finalizes 340B Program Reimbursement Cut on Part B Drugs
K&L Gates Triage: 340B Regulatory Update: CMS Proposal and Draft Executive Order Could Have Big Impact on 340B Program
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program got good news from The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) related to widespread fraud involving urinary catheters that...more
On May 17, the Senate Finance Committee released a long-awaited white paper describing its legislative effort focused on bolstering chronic care through physician payment. Following a committee hearing April 11, the white...more
Is Medicare Advantage really a Disadvantage for seniors and taxpayers? Our nation is graying rapidly. Every day, 10,000 baby boomers, members of one of the largest generations in U.S. history, hit the traditional...more
On February 14, 2023, and in response to Executive Order 14087 (“Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans”), the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a report announcing the selection of three models that...more
CMS announced today a further extension until February 1, 2023, of the deadline for its publication of the long-awaited final rule on the use of extrapolation and the application of a fee-for-service adjuster (FFS Adjuster)...more
The Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Application and Attestation Portal is now open for Phase 4 and American Rescue Plan (ARP) Rural Distribution applications. Distributions received can be used for changes in a provider’s...more
The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a Final Rule (the Rule) on April 29, 2021 extending and making various revisions to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model (the CJR Model). The CJR Model...more
As explained in our prior alert, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is offering certain Medicare providers an additional opportunity to apply—by August 28, 2020—for Provider Relief Fund (PRF) distributions from...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 28, no. 42 (November 25, 2019) - In a surprising CMS memo that just surfaced, top CMS attorneys echo the sentiments of the Department of Justice about the limits of enforcement actions based...more
A new rule proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on October 26, 2018, would revise the way the agency validates the risk adjustment data and collects repayments from Medicare Advantage (MA)...more
Part D Plan Sponsors’ Access to Medicare Parts A and B Claims Data Extracts - As detailed in previous posts in this series, one major objective that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) addressed in a...more
Requirements for MA Plans Offering Additional Telehealth Benefits - As part of the proposed rule issued November 1, 2018 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) regarding updates to the Medicare Advantage...more
The OIG added three items to its Work Plan with the February 2018 update, as listed in the chart below. Two of the items concern annual reports, one addressing the performance of Medicaid Fraud Control Units and the other...more
On Oct. 14, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule with comment period implementing the bipartisan Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The nearly 2,400 pages of...more
Significant changes to the Medicare payment system are underway. The Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) is set to take effect January 1, 2017. MACRA represents a deliberate departure by the...more
I. REGULATIONS, NOTICES, & GUIDANCE - On February 24, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a guidance entitled, “Special Enrollment Confirmation Process” that will enhance program integrity...more
Senate Working Group Pressing Forward on Telehealth - As Congress focuses on bigger picture policy decisions, including broad budget negotiations and raising the debt ceiling, there are some exciting developments on the...more
Recent action by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announces significant change in reimbursement methodology for high volume orthopedic surgical procedures in many markets nationwide. Affected stakeholders...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
For some health care providers, a pair of recent announcements made by the Obama Administration to implement mandatory alternative payment models (APMs) for home health value-based purchasing and bundled payments for hip and...more
On June 4, 2015, CMS issued final regulations revising the Medicare Shared Savings Program, including changes to provisions relating to the payment of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared...more
Despite the efforts of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to combat fraud and contain costs in federal healthcare programs, Medicare’s fee-for-service program (Parts A and B) and Medicaid were two of the top...more
On April 9, 2014, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS"), a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"), released data showing utilization, payments, and submitted charges for services and...more