iqtsupport, Author at DeBrunner & Associates

ACA Replacement?

While both the Trump administration and Congress insist that they will repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, neither has yet provided information about what that replacement might look like. But one place worth looking for a possible glimpse into the future is the Affordable Care Act replacement plan proposed by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), President Trump’s nominee to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. In 2015, Rep. Price proposed the Empowering Patients First Act as a vehicle for replacing the Affordable Care Act. While the bill was not adopted by Congress at the time, [...]

iqtsupport2017-01-25T06:00:05-05:00January 25, 2017|Affordable Care Act|

HHS Transition Briefing Book Available

Prior to last November’s election, leadership at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services prepared briefing materials for the transition staff of the winning candidate. That briefing book, HHS Presidential Transition Agency Landing Team Book, provides background material that HHS leadership believed would be useful for the incoming president’s transition team. That 118-page book is now publicly available; find it here.

iqtsupport2017-01-24T13:00:34-05:00January 24, 2017|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services|

VBP No Boon for Patients

Medicare efforts to use value-based purchasing to foster improvement in the quality of hospital care has not improved the quality of patients’ experience in those hospitals, according to a new study. Addressing the quality of patients’ experience in the hospital, the Health Affairs study “Patient Hospital Experience Improved Modestly, But No Evidence Medicare Incentives Promoted Meaningful Gains” concluded about Medicare’s value-based purchasing efforts that While certain subsets of hospitals improved more than others, we found no evidence that the program has had a beneficial effect. See the study here.

iqtsupport2017-01-24T06:00:29-05:00January 24, 2017|Medicare|

Health Centers Rise to Medicaid Challenge

The nation’s federally funded health centers responded to the Affordable Care Act by serving more Medicaid patients than ever and improving the quality of care they provide. According to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, Medicaid expansion was associated with improved quality on four of eight measures examined: asthma treatment, Pap testing, body mass index assessment, and hypertension control. Learn more about how Medicaid expansion affected federally funded health centers and how those centers responded to that expansion in the study “At Federally Funded Health Centers, Medicaid Expansion Was Associated With Improved Quality Of Care,” which can [...]

iqtsupport2017-01-23T06:00:39-05:00January 23, 2017|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

MedPAC: No Rate Increases for Nursing Homes

As it has since 2008, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has voted to recommend no pay increase or even market basket increase for Medicare payments to skilled nursing facilities. According to MedPAC, Medicare payments for nursing home care remain too high. MedPAC also voted to recommend no market basket increases for long-term-care hospitals and hospices and for a pay reduction for inpatient rehabilitation facilities. MedPAC will formally submit its recommendations to Congress in March. To learn more about MedPAC’s thoughts on Medicare reimbursement for post-acute-care services, see this article in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.

iqtsupport2017-01-20T13:00:41-05:00January 20, 2017|MedPAC|

MedPAC: Small Pay Raise for Hospital Inpatient, Outpatient Services

The independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment matters has recommended modest increases in Medicare payments for hospital inpatient and outpatient services in FY 2018. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted in support of a market basket increase of approximately 1.85 percent for Medicare outpatient and inpatient services in FY 2018. MedPAC also voted to recommend a 0.5 percent increase in payments to physicians but no increase for ambulatory surgery centers. MedPAC will formally submit its recommendations to Congress in March. Learn more about these and other MedPAC recommendations for changes in Medicare provider reimbursement in this article on [...]

iqtsupport2017-01-20T06:00:18-05:00January 20, 2017|Medicare, MedPAC|

Implications of ACA Repeal for Medicaid

How might repeal of the Affordable Care Act affect Medicaid? Medicaid beneficiaries? States and providers? These issues and more are considered in the new Commonwealth Fund report “Medicaid’s Future: What Might ACA Repeal Mean?” Find it here.

iqtsupport2017-01-19T13:00:26-05:00January 19, 2017|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues met for two days in Washington, D.C. Among the issues on the agenda of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission were: payments for hospital inpatient and outpatient services, ambulatory surgery centers, dialysis facilities, and hospice care payments for post-acute-care providers a unified payment system for post-acute-care services Medicare Advantage Medicare Part B and Part D payments Medicare-covered primary care services implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 Go here for links to the issue briefs and presentations used at the MedPAC meeting and for a [...]

iqtsupport2017-01-19T06:00:38-05:00January 19, 2017|hospitals, Medicare, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|

ACOs Serving Low-Income and Minority Patients Underperform

Accountable care organizations that serve large numbers of minority patients score lower on Medicare quality measures than other ACOs, a new study has found. According to the study, ACOs serving larger numbers of minority patients perform worse than other ACOs on 25 of 44 Medicare performance measures – and that performance does not improve over time. The study also pointed out that the minority patients served by ACOs are generally poorer and sicker than other ACO participants. Learn more about these and other findings in the report “ACOs Serving High Proportions of Racial and Ethnic Minorities Lag in Quality Performance,” [...]

iqtsupport2017-01-18T06:00:56-05:00January 18, 2017|Accountable Care Organization, ACO, Medicare|

Urban Hospitals in ACOS Better at Reducing Some Readmissions Rates

A new study has found that hospitals located in metropolitan areas that participate in accountable care organizations are doing a better job than other hospitals of reducing 30-day readmissions rates for Medicare patients who originally were discharged into skilled nursing facilities. It appears this improved performance can be attributed to two things: better discharge planning and better coordination with the skilled nursing facilities. To learn more go here to see the study “ACO-Affiliated Hospitals Reduced Rehospitalizations from Skilled Nursing Facilities Faster Than Other Hospitals.”

iqtsupport2017-01-17T06:00:47-05:00January 17, 2017|Accountable Care Organization, ACO, hospitals, Medicare|

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