Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Private Insurer Payments Far Exceed Medicare Payments, Study Finds
“…employers and private insurers … paid 247 percent of what Medicare would have paid for the same services at the same facilities,” according to a new study by the Rand Corporation, which also notes that “This difference increased from 224 percent of Medicare in 2016 and 230 percent in 2017.” The study also found that: From 2016 to 2018, the overall relative price for hospitals (including inpatient and outpatient care) increased from 224 to 247 percent, a compounded annual rate of increase of 5.1 percent. Some states (Arkansas, Michigan, Rhode [...]
Coronavirus Update for Monday, September 21
The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Monday, September 21. Provider Relief Fund Reporting Requirements HHS has updated its Provider Relief Fund web page with the document “General and Targeted Distribution: Post-Payment Notice of Reporting Requirements.” The purpose of this document is to inform recipients of Provider Relief Fund payments that received one or more payments exceeding $10,000 in the aggregate of the data elements they will be required to report as part of the post-payment reporting process. This is important [...]
Coronavirus Update for Friday, September 18
The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 3:30 p.m. on Friday, September 18. CMS/Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes In June, CMS established a Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes to “address safety and quality in nursing homes in relation to the public health emergency. The main purpose of the independent Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes… was to solicit lessons learned from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and recommendations for future actions [...]
Coronavirus Update for Wednesday, September 16
The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 16. Department of Health and Human Services HHS and the Department of Defense released documents outlining their strategy for delivering COVID-19 vaccine doses. The documents provide a strategic distribution overview along with an interim playbook for state, tribal, territorial, and local public health programs and their partners on how to plan and operationalize a vaccination response to COVID-19 within their respective jurisdictions. Learn more from the following documents: HHS’s news release The distribution strategy [...]
MFAR is Dead
At least for now. The controversial Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation, slated for implementation this fall over the objections of many health care stakeholders, will not move forward at this time. In a tweet earlier this week, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma wrote that We've listened closely to concerns that have been raised by our state and provider partners about potential unintended consequences of the proposed rule, which require further study. Therefore, CMS is withdrawing the rule from the regulatory agenda. If implemented, opponents maintained, the regulation [...]