Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Coronavirus Update for Friday, September 4
The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 12:15 p.m. on Friday, September 4. Provider Relief Fund Reminder: Applications are currently open for Phase 2 general distribution funding for Medicaid, Medicaid managed care, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), dental providers, certain Medicare providers, and assisted living facilities. All groups have until September 13, 2020 to submit their tax identification number for validation and apply for funding from the phase 2 general distribution. Go here for more information. HHS announced that assisted living facilities may apply for funding [...]
How Medicaid Managed Care Cuts Costs
Low-cost Medicaid managed care plans mostly cut their costs by reducing how much care, and how much high-quality care, their members receive. That is the conclusion of a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. According to the study, Medicaid managed care plans succeed in reducing costs less by cost-sharing, negotiating lower provider rates, employing narrow networks, and doing a better job of managing their members’ high-cost chronic medical conditions than they do by leading their members to use fewer high-value, low-cost services such as cancer and [...]
Coronavirus Update for Monday, August 31
The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Monday, August 31. Provider Relief Fund The Department of Health and Human Services has updated its CARES Act Provider Relief Fund FAQ. Six questions on pages 30 and 31, marked “Modified 8/25/2020,” primarily address submitting requests for phase 2 distributions. Five questions on pages 9, 22-23, 23, 32-33, and 33 are marked “Modified 8/27/2020” or “Added 8/27/2020” and address applying for phase 2 distributions. Five questions, on pages 44 and 45, address the upcoming [...]
CMS Provides Guidance on Medicaid DSH Calculations
State Medicaid program accounting for hospital uncompensated care when calculating hospital-specific Medicaid disproportionate share limits is the subject of new guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In the guidance, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services explains that because of several court rulings, states can decide for themselves whether to offset third-party payer payments from costs in their Medicaid DSH calculations for periods prior to June 2, 2017 but that beginning with that date, CMS will enforce its own interpretation of the policy. In new guidance, CMS [...]
Feds Delay Stark Rule, Anti-Kickback Update
An update of regulations that limit the ability of doctors to refer patients for care to sources in which those doctors have a financial interest will wait as long as another year, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS had previously proposed regulations updating current guidelines, essentially easing them, but provider comment was so great – often, saying that the easing of the guidelines did not go far enough – that the agency decided to step back and review the situation. In a public inspection version of [...]