Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
States Prepare to Unravel Pandemic Medicaid Expansion
As the COVID-19 public health emergency once again appears, at least for the moment, to be winding down, state governments are preparing for how to undo the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program expansions mandated by Congress and return to their pre-COVID eligibility criteria for the two major health care safety-net programs. Under the temporary federal expansion of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility during the pandemic’s early days, states received enhanced federal matching funds for those programs in exchange for expanding their eligibility criteria and agreeing not to reconsider enrollees’ eligibility [...]
MedPAC Makes 2023 Medicare Payment Recommendations
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has released its March 2022 Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy. The report includes MedPAC’s recommendations for Medicare payments in 2023. For the coming year, MedPAC recommends the following changes in Medicare fee-for-service payments: hospital inpatient payments – increase 2.5% hospital outpatient payments – increase 2.0% long-term care hospital payments – increase approximately 2.0% outpatient dialysis payments – increase 1.2% physician, ambulatory surgical center, and hospice payments – no change skilled nursing facility, home health, and inpatient rehabilitation facility payments – reduce 5.0% The [...]
Feds Plan for End of Aid for Certain COVID Services
As of March 22, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. (eastern) the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program will stop accepting claims for testing and treatment due to lack of funds and on April 5, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. (eastern) the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program and COVID-19 Coverage Assistance Fund will stop accepting vaccination claims due to a lack of funds. Today, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which runs the Provider Relief Fund program, has provided additional information about this significant change in federal COVID policy [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for Wednesday, March 16
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Provider Relief Fund On March 22, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. (eastern), the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program will stop accepting claims for testing and treatment due to lack of funds. On April 5, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. (eastern), the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program and COVID-19 Coverage Assistance Fund will stop accepting vaccination claims due to a lack of funds. [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for Thursday, March 10
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 10. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. White House The White House has posted a transcript of the March 2 press briefing given by its COVID-19 response team to outline the administration’s National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan. 340B Eligibility Protection and Telehealth Extensions in the Omnibus Spending Bill Providers that feared they might lose their eligibility to continue participating in the 340B prescription drug discount program [...]