2026 March

MACPAC Submits March Report to Congress

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission has submitted its mandated March report to Congress. The report consists of four chapters: Chapter 1 offers a recommendation to support the home- and community-based services (HCBS) workforce by requiring states to report hourly wages paid to HCBS workers to help states set effective HCBS payment rates. Chapter 2 focuses on behavioral health in Medicaid and CHIP. Chapter 3 looks at the role of Medicaid in supporting justice-involved youth. Chapter 4 provides an overview of how Medicaid meets the needs of children in child welfare. Learn more from this MACPAC news release, which summarizes the [...]

joe2026-03-17T13:15:26-04:00March 18, 2026|MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid long-term services and supports|

MedPAC Submits March Report to Congress

As required by law, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has submitted its March report to Congress. In this year’s report, MedPAC: evaluates the adequacy of Medicare’s fee-for-service payments and offers its recommendation for changes in the coming year; offers its perspectives on the Medicare Advantage program (Medicare Part C) and the Medicare prescription drug program (Medicare Part D); describes trends and key issues in post-acute care and offers a status report on ambulatory surgical centers; and submits reports mandated by Congress on the performance of special-needs plans for dually eligible (Medicare and Medicaid) beneficiaries and on how changes in the [...]

joe2026-03-12T17:26:14-04:00March 17, 2026|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

MACPAC Meets

Members of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met recently in Washington, D.C. The following is MACPAC’s own summary of its two days of public meetings. MACPAC’s March meeting began with a discussion on the role of automation in the Medicaid prior authorization (PA) process. MACPAC conducted a literature review, a federal policy review, and stakeholder interviews on the role of automation in the PA process. During this session, we reviewed findings and challenges that surfaced in this research, including the extent to which automation is already in use in Medicaid PA; the availability of information and documentation [...]

joe2026-03-12T15:08:27-04:00March 16, 2026|MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicaid managed care, Medicaid regulations for long-term care|

Federal Health Policy Update for March 12

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for March 6-12. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress While the House was in recess this week, the Republican caucus held its annual retreat to discuss legislative priorities. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) continues to push for another reconciliation bill, hoping to revisit several proposals to reduce Medicaid spending that were not included in HR another rank-and-file Republicans have expressed doubt that this will be possible. Both chambers of Congress are scheduled to be in session next week. The House Committee on [...]

joe2026-03-12T16:09:44-04:00March 12, 2026|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Congress, hospitals, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicaid managed care, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy|

“Rural Emergency Hospital” Designation Making a Difference for Some Communities

The new (since 2023) classification of some hospitals as “Rural Emergency Hospitals” is proving to be an effective tool for preserving access to care in some rural communities. The program, introduced to help stem the closure of rural hospitals, which was leaving many communities without reasonable access to care, appears to be having the desired effect. Among the benefits reported by the administrators of such hospitals – which must apply for this special federal designation – are preservation of access to emergency and outpatient services, including surgery, laboratory, imaging, and therapy, in communities where they were otherwise in jeopardy; financial [...]

joe2026-03-11T11:18:59-04:00March 12, 2026|340b, hospitals, Medicare|

CMS Lays Out Medicaid Eligibility Redeterminations

More than eight months after passage of HR 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has provided formal guidance to the states on how to redetermine Medicaid eligibility for certain Medicaid beneficiaries – a major part of the bill’s health care changes. Under that law, states must redetermine affected individuals’ continued Medicaid eligibility every six months beginning with renewals scheduled on or after January 1, 2027. CMS is giving states two options for redetermining Medicaid eligibility. They may: move an individual’s previously set 2027 renewal date to an earlier date in 2027 to space out [...]

joe2026-03-11T08:08:31-04:00March 11, 2026|Medicaid|

CMS Will Continue Rolling Out Mandatory Models

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation intend to continue developing and introducing mandatory Medicare models with an emphasis on driving more value-based care. That is the message delivered by CMS administrator Mehmet Oz and CMMI director Abe Sutton during a recent conference. While the track record of CMMI’s models – both voluntary and mandatory – is not great, policymakers believe they remain the best way for government to continue encouraging health care providers to focus more on the delivery of value-based care. To date, only four of the agency’s approximately 50 [...]

joe2026-03-05T17:04:15-05:00March 10, 2026|Accountable Care Organization, ACO, Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, Medicare|

New Group Targets Hospitals

Insurance interests have joined forces to create a new group that is targeting hospitals and blaming them for rising health care costs. The group, called “Hospital Watch,” was formed last month and describes itself as … a watchdog group dedicated to shining a light on corporate hospitals as the top culprit in driving up U.S. healthcare costs – exposing corporate hospitals’ monopolistic practices in price gouging patients with excessive markups and hidden fees with no transparency while forcing patients and employers to pay more for their care. Hospital Watch is the creation of another group, called “Better Solutions for Healthcare,” [...]

joe2026-03-05T14:39:59-05:00March 9, 2026|hospitals|

Federal Health Policy Update for March 5

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for February 27-March 6. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a full committee markup of nine bills addressing cybersecurity and digital safety. See that list here. Also on Thursday, the Senate HELP Committee conducted a hearing titled “Transforming Health Care with Data: Improving Patient Outcomes Through Next-Generation Care.” Find video of the hearing here. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) expressed interest in passing another reconciliation bill this year that would include policies addressing [...]

sysadmin2026-03-06T15:58:46-05:00March 6, 2026|ACO, Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

Rural Health Transformation Plans Face Pushback

In states across the country, legislators, hospital and health care groups, and others are objecting to the plans their state governments submitted to the federal government for how they would like to spend Rural Health Transformation funds – plans that federal regulators have already approved. In Colorado, Michigan, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming, legislators have even threatened to withhold the enabling legislation needed to spend the federal money. One of their primary objections is that the approved Rural Health Transformation program plans, consistent with federal guidelines, focus on innovation in the delivery of rural health care and do not help [...]

joe2026-03-04T12:23:38-05:00March 5, 2026|Congress, hospitals|

March 2026