iqtsupport, Author at DeBrunner & Associates

Groups Seek to Block Medicaid Block Grants

Do not permit states to adopt block grants for their Medicaid programs, more than two dozen groups have asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. A letter signed by the American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, COPD Foundation, March of Dimes, United Way, and others states that Simply put, block grants and per capita caps will reduce access to quality and affordable healthcare for patients with serious chronic health conditions and are therefore unacceptable to our organizations. The letter explains that Per capita caps and block grants are designed to reduce federal funding for Medicaid, forcing states to either [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-22T06:00:38-04:00July 22, 2019|Medicaid|

Ways and Means Establishes Rural Health Task Force

The House Ways and Means Committee has established a new “Rural and Underserved Communities Health Task Force.” The purpose of the task force, according to a committee news release, will be to … convene members and experts to discuss the challenges of delivering health care in rural and underserved areas, and explore holistic bipartisan policy options that could improve outcomes and care in these communities. The task force will have bipartisan leadership. Learn more about the task force, its members, its objectives, and how it intends to proceed with this work in this Ways and Means Committee news release.

iqtsupport2019-07-19T06:00:16-04:00July 19, 2019|Congress|

Trading Loan Forgiveness for Serving Medicaid Patients

The state of California is paying off some doctors’ medical school debts in exchange for a commitment to care for Medicaid patients. Under a new state program, physicians and dentists can see their medical debt eliminated or greatly reduced in exchange for a five-year commitment during which at least 30 percent of their patients are served by Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. The state expects to spend $340 million in this manner in the coming year, with the money coming from Proposition 56 tobacco tax revenue. That measure included a $2 tax increase on every pack of cigarettes sold in [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-17T10:28:28-04:00July 17, 2019|Medicaid|

CMS Proposes Easing Medicaid Access Protections

States would have to do less to ensure access to Medicaid-covered services for their Medicaid population under a new regulation proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In 2015, CMS required states to track their Medicaid fee-for-service payments and submit them to the federal government as part of a process to ensure that Medicaid payments were sufficient to ensure access to care for eligible individuals. Now, CMS proposes rescinding this requirement, writing in a news release that This proposed rule is designed to help streamline federal oversight of access to care requirements that protect Medicaid beneficiaries. CMS anticipates [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-16T10:33:57-04:00July 16, 2019|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

HHS Launches New Quality Initiative

The evaluation, adoption, and streamlining of federal health care quality programs will be the objective of a new “quality summit” launched by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In response to an executive order issued by the president, HHS has established the quality summit because, according to an HHS news release, A long-stated goal of the Trump Administration has been to shift our current government healthcare programs from paying for services and procedures to paying for better patient outcomes. We believe the best way to effect this shift is through greater transparency and a focus on quality outcomes [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-11T06:00:33-04:00July 11, 2019|Medicare|

The Role of Medicaid in Addressing Social Determinants of Health

Medicaid can play a major role in addressing the social determinants of health. Or so argues a recent post on the Health Affairs Blog. According to the post, social determinants of health – income, education, decent housing, access to food, and more – significantly influence the health and well-being of individuals – including low-income individuals who have adequate access to quality health care. Medicaid, the post maintains, can play a major role in addressing social determinants of health. The post outlines the role state Medicaid programs can play in addressing social determinants of health; describes tools for such action such [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-10T06:00:27-04:00July 10, 2019|Medicaid|

Study Finds Surprise in Sources of Medicaid, CHIP Growth

While enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP has been greatest among low-income families working full-time for small businesses, growth in Medicaid and CHIP among low-income families employed full-time by big businesses has been rising faster in recent years. According to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, Medicaid and CHIP enrollment among low-income families employed full-time by large companies rose from 45 percent to 69 percent between 2008 and 2016. The driving force behind this growing reliance on public insurance appears to be the shift of health insurance costs from companies to employees: employee share of health insurance premiums [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-08T14:40:03-04:00July 8, 2019|Medicaid|

CMS Outlines New Medicaid Program Integrity Activities

The federal government will introduce a number of initiatives to combat Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse in the coming months. In an article on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ blog, CMS administrator Seema Verma outlined her agency’s major Medicaid program integrity efforts of the past year, including: Oversight of state Medicaid claiming and program integrity Disallowing unallowable claims of federal funding Increased audits and oversight Data sharing and partnerships Education, technical assistance, and collaboration Reducing improper payments Initiatives to be introduced in the coming months include (as described in the blog post): A proposed comprehensive update to Medicaid’s [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-03T10:12:38-04:00July 3, 2019|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid|

Readmissions Higher for Medicare Advantage Patients

Medicare Advantage patients are more likely to be readmitted to the hospital for existing medical problems than participants in traditional Medicare, a new study has found. According to a report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Medicare Advantage patients suffering from acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia were readmitted to hospitals because of those medical problems at slightly higher rates than patients served by traditional Medicare. Learn more from the Annals of Internal Medicine study “Hospital Readmission Rates in Medicare Advantage and Traditional Medicare: A Retrospective Population-Based Analysis” and the Healthcare Dive article “MA patients' readmission rates [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-01T06:00:15-04:00July 1, 2019|Medicare|

MedPAC Weighs in on Proposed Medicare Payment Changes

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has submitted formal comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in response to the latter’s publication of a proposed regulation that would govern how Medicare will pay for acute-care hospital inpatient services and long-term hospital care in the coming 2020 fiscal year. The 14-page MedPAC report addresses four aspects of the proposed Medicare payment regulation: inpatient- and outpatient drug- and device related payment proposals proposed changes in the hospital area wage index the reporting of hospitals’ uncompensated care on the Medicare cost report’s S-10 worksheet the long-term hospital prospective payment system MedPAC is [...]

iqtsupport2019-06-26T06:00:55-04:00June 26, 2019|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, hospitals, Medicare, Medicare regulations, MedPAC, post-acute care|

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