Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Coronavirus Update for Thursday, November 12
The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Thursday, November 12. Department of Health and Human Services HHS is hosting a on webinar Friday, November 13 at 1:00 p.m. (eastern) to present updated guidance for hospital data reporting requirements. Go here to register. Also available are a slide deck that will be presented by the subject matter experts during the webinar and a Q&A document with questions that were not addressed during previous webinars. HHS’s Office of the Inspector General has released [...]
MedPAC Meets
Earlier this week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. Among the issues on MedPAC’s November agenda were: expansion of telehealth in Medicare report on Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care in rural areas effects of pharmaceutical rebates on Part D’s risk adjustment improving competition among Medicare Part D’s benchmark plans separately payable drugs in the hospital outpatient prospective payment system Medicare Advantage payment and access for enrollees with end-stage renal disease MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises Congress [...]
Coronavirus Update for Tuesday, November 10
The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10. Food and Drug Administration The FDA has issued emergency use authorization (EUA) for the investigational monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adult and pediatric patients. In issuing this EUA, the FDA noted that “While the safety and effectiveness of this investigational therapy continues to be evaluated, bamlanivimab was shown in clinical trials to reduce COVID-19-related hospitalization or emergency room visits in patients at high risk for [...]
Coronavirus Update for Thursday, November 5
The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 5. Provider Relief Fund A reminder that applications for Phase 3 general distribution payments are due Friday, November 6. HHS has updated the Provider Relief Fund FAQ with two modified items; the second bullet below addresses the deadline for Phase 3 applications. p. 6 - Does HHS intend to recoup any payments made to providers not tied to specific claims for reimbursement, such as the General or Targeted Distribution payments? ( Modified [...]
Most Hospitals Fined by Medicare Over Readmissions
More than 80 percent of all hospitals subject to Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program, and half of all of hospitals in the country, will be penalized in FY 2021 under that program because they have what Medicare considers to be too many avoidable readmissions. In all, 2556 of the 3080 hospitals subject to the program will be penalized. More than 600 will see their inpatient payments cut one percent as a result and the average cut will be 0.69 percent. The penalties are based on hospital performance with patients experiencing [...]