Bulletin Board

Federal Health Policy Update for December 18

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for December 12-18. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress In a 216-211 vote yesterday, the House passed the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, a Republican package aimed at addressing multiple health care policies. The legislation includes provisions for employee tax-advantaged benefits like HSAs and FSAs, cost-sharing reductions (CSR) subsidies, and increased transparency requirements for pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). It notably did not include an extension of the enhanced [...]

December 18, 2025|Categories: Accountable Care Organization, ACO, Affordable Care Act, Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, Congress, hospitals, Medicaid, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid DSH allotments, Medicare, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, Telehealth|Tags: ACCESS Model, Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Affordable Care Act, ICD-10, LEAD Model, Long-term Enhanced ACO Design Model, MAHA ELEVATE Model, Make America Healthy Again Enhancing Lifestyle and Evaluating Value-based Approaches Through Evidence Model, Measures Under Consideration, Medicaid, Medicaid conditions of participation, Medicaid state plan amendments, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare and skin substitutes, medicare conditions of participation, MLN Connects, proposed Medicaid gender-affirming regulation, proposed Medicaid sex-rejecting regulation, Scalable Solutions Model|

Controversy Over No Surprises Act Continues

Providers and payers continue to wage war over how the No Surprises Act is being implemented. The law, enacted in 2020, was intended to prevent insured consumers from receiving surprise medical bills, especially for out-of-network care. While it has achieved that objective to a considerable degree, it has left behind providers complaining they are being underpaid for their services and payers – health insurers – insisting that the process of adjudicating such disputes, through what is known as the Independent Dispute Resolution process, is forcing them to pay far too [...]

December 18, 2025|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: Independent Dispute Resolution process, No Surprises Act, Surprise medical bills|

Hospital Bad Debt and Charity Care Rising

Hospital bad debt and charity care are rising, according to a new report. Both are up five percent from October of 2024 to October of 2025 – and 40 percent greater than in 2022. Among the causes are natural demographic changes and post-COVID Medicaid redeterminations, the latter of which is leaving many low-income Americans without health insurance. The impact of rising bad debt and charity care are being felt most in the western U.S. And one bright spot: charity care and bad debt as a percentage of hospital gross revenue [...]

December 17, 2025|Categories: hospitals, Medicaid|Tags: hospital bad debt, hospital charity care, Medicaid eligibility redeterminations|

Hospitals Shedding Pediatric Services

More and more hospitals are shedding their less profitable pediatric services, a review of 20 years of hospital activity has revealed. Driven by a combination of staffing issues and low Medicaid payments, hospitals are increasingly closing some of their pediatric services, according to a review in the journal Pediatrics, which found that Among more than 3000 US hospitals, 26.7% provided minimal pediatric services in 2003, which increased to 65.0% in 2022… Learn more about the challenges hospitals face in providing care for children and the impact of 20 years of [...]

December 15, 2025|Categories: hospitals, Medicaid|Tags: Hospitals and pediatric services, Medicaid and pediatric services|

Federal Health Policy Update for December 11

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for December 5-11. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress The Senate voted today on competing proposals to address health care affordability: Democrats sought a clean extension of the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits set to expire on December 31 while Republicans tried to consolidate support around an alternative plan. Neither bill gained the 60-vote threshold needed for passage. In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) intends to bring a vote [...]

December 11, 2025|Categories: Affordable Care Act, Alternative payment models, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, Congress, hospitals, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare disproportionate share, Medicare DSH, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|Tags: Affordable Care Act, Affordable Care Act premium tax credit, Basic Health Program, CDC advisory committee on immunization practices, CMS and PEPPER, Department of Health and Human Services artificial intelligence strategy, Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General, FDA TEMPO Model, Health Savings Accounts, HHS AI strategy, HSAs, Increasing Organ Transplant Access Model, IOTA model, Medicaid eligibility community engagement requirements, Medicaid eligibility work requirements, Medicare ACCESS Model, Medicare Advancing Chronic Care with Effective Scalable Solutions Model, Medicare and rural emergency hospitals, Medicare and techology supported care options, Medicare home health payments, Medicare hospice payments, Medicare inpatient hospital payments, Medicare inpatient rehabilitation facility payments, Medicare outpatient dialysis payments, Medicare outpatient hospital payments, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, Medicare site-neutral payments, Medicare skilled nursing facility payments, MedPAC, MedPAC Medicare payment recommendations, OPTN, organ procurement and transplantation network|

12 Next

Bulletin Board

Bulletin Board

Categories

Recent Posts

Archives