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
The 60-day Refund Rule, created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, requires providers to report and return Medicare and Medicaid overpayments within 60 days of identifying them. See Section 1128J(d) of the Social Security Act,...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
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
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its Advance Notice of Methodological Changes for Calendar Year (CY) 2025 for Medicare Advantage (MA) Capitation Rates and Part C and Part D Payment Policies on Jan....more
Some Medicare Advantage beneficiaries receive Medicare flex cards, pre-paid debit cards for qualifying expenses, as part of their benefits. The U.S. government does not issue Medicare flex cards. This benefit is only...more
The Medicare open enrollment period runs through December 7th, 2023. Medicare adjusts costs, coverage, and accepted providers on an annual basis. If you have received “Evidence of Coverage,” or an “Annual Notice of Change,”...more
On November 6, 2023, CMS released a pre-publication version of a proposed rule (Proposed Rule) that is set to publish in the Federal Register on November 15, 2023, and that would amend the regulations governing Medicare...more
In a proposed rule issued on December 27, 2022 to make technical changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) buried in the regulatory arcana a material legal change to the...more
On December 27, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule which, in part, seeks to amend the existing regulations for Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D regarding the standard for when an...more
On December 14, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that contemplates several changes to, and clarifications of, guidance for the Medicare Advantage (MA) program in coverage year 2024....more
On January 6, 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued the proposed rule on Contract Year 2023 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs...more
Every year Medicare gives beneficiaries a window of opportunity to shop around and determine if their current Medicare plan is still the best one for them. During Medicare's Open Enrollment Period, which runs from October 15...more
Payment misalignment in Medicare FFS for Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment as the subject of potential legislative and/or regulatory reforms - New opportunities for investor-backed behavioral health platforms in...more
Medicare's Open Enrollment Period, during which you can freely enroll in or switch plans, runs from October 15 to December 7. Now is the time to start shopping around to see whether your current choices are still the best...more
Medicare Advantage (MA) is the rapidly growing private plan option in the Medicare program. More than one-third of all Medicare beneficiaries choose MA — more than 24 million people. The program has grown nearly 10% year over...more
On September 1, 2020, CMS published a proposed rule that would define “reasonable and necessary” for purposes of coverage under Part A and Part B of the Medicare program, and that would establish a new expedited Medicare...more
If you plan to move states, can you take your Medicare or Medicaid plans with you? The answer depends on whether you have original Medicare, Medicare Advantage, or Medicaid. Medicare - If you have original Medicare...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued guidance to their contracting carriers on various issues surrounding the novel coronavirus or COVID-19. These guidance...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
Anticipating open enrollment season for coverage in 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released coverage and premium information that will factor into consumer decisions about Medicare and individual...more
Providers, plans, and vendors that provide services under the Medicare Advantage program, should be aware that the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) is once again...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it is seeking input on direct provider contracting (DPC) between “payers and primary care or multi-specialty groups to inform potential testing of a DPC model”...more
CMS is moving forward with implementing the Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice (MOON) as announced in its FY 2017 IPPS Final Rule [PDF] on August 2, 2016, and published in the Federal Register on August 22, 2016 (Final...more
By now, providers are very familiar with Medicare recovery audit contractors, or RACs – the private companies who have authority to review medical records at a moment’s notice. For every dollar they opine has been improperly...more