Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Court Rejects Non-Compete Ban
A federal court has rejected a Federal Trade Commission regulation that banned non-compete agreements between employers and employees under most circumstances. In a suit brought in Texas by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the Texas Association of Business, and others, the court found that the FTC exceeded its authority in promulgating the regulation and that the rule itself was “arbitrary and capricious,” based on limited evidence, and without either a rationale for such a sweeping approach nor any evidence that the agency considered a more limited approach [...]
Federal Court Rejects Medicare DSH Regulation
The federal government must include uninsured patients that hospitals serve under state Medicaid waivers when calculating hospitals’ Medicare DSH payments, a federal court has ruled. In the case of Baylor All Saints Medical Center, et al. v. Xavier Becerra, federal policymakers had invoked a 2023 regulation that excluded counting care provided to patients serve by DSH-eligible hospitals providing care through state Medicaid waivers – generally, through uncompensated care pools. A group of DSH-eligible hospitals in Texas sued over the regulation because its implementation reduced their Medicare DSH funding – money [...]
ONC Takes Next Step in Advancing Interoperability
A proposed regulation that would require health care organizations that contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to comply with standards for data exchange adopted by HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is the latter’s latest step toward fostering greater interoperability in the use and exchange of health care data. As ONC writes, By aligning on standards that enable interoperability, HHS is ensuring that federal investments do not contribute to the proliferation of proprietary modes of exchange and data silos that inhibit access, exchange, [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for August 15
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for August 9-15. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Department of Health and Human Services To advance its implementation of the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), HHS has published a proposed regulation that would amend and update its Health and Human Services Acquisition Regulation. The proposed regulation would require health care organizations that contract with HHS to comply with standards for data exchange adopted by [...]
CMS Tinkers With ACO REACH Model
Medicare’s ACO REACH Model will undergo some changes when it heads into its 2025 performance year. To help ensure that the program controls costs and saves money, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will implement a series of changes in its voluntary Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) Model. According to the agency, it is: adjusting the financial methodology to improve model sustainability based on the findings in the PY [performance year] 2022 Evaluation Report; responding to feedback from interested parties on improvements [...]