Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Feds Propose Changing Medicare DSH Calculation
Medicare DSH payments would reflect hospitals’ Medicare Advantage inpatient days under a new regulation proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Under the newly proposed rule, the formula for calculating Medicare disproportionate share payments would incorporate hospitals’ Medicare Advantage inpatient days and not just their fee-for-service inpatient days. Medicare DSH payments are made to hospitals that serve especially high proportions of low-income and uninsured patients and are intended to help them with the cost of providing those services. Go here to see the proposed regulation.
CMS Proposes New Medicare Payments for 2021
Medicare will change its provider payments for two types of Medicare-covered services in 2021 and has proposed changes in payments for three other Medicare-covered services in a flurry of activity over the past week. Last week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized new 2021 Medicare payment rates for: skilled nursing facilities hospice services inpatient psychiatric facilities In addition, this week CMS proposed new 2021 Medicare rates for: physician services outpatient and ambulatory surgical services The proposed changes in Medicare provider payments for physician services and outpatient and ambulatory [...]
Loan Repayment Looms for Hospitals
Unless Congress intervenes, hospitals will soon begin repaying massive federal loans they received to help them cope with the COVID-19 public health emergency. The loans, authorized by the federal CARES Act, were made through the Accelerated and Advance Loan Program, and in all, Medicare made nearly $100 billion in such loans to providers. Under the legislation, Medicare was to begin recouping the loans 120 days after hospitals received them, with recoupment coming by Medicare ceasing to pay hospitals’ Medicare claims until the full amount of the loan was repaid. Now [...]
Court Supports HHS on 340B Cut
The federal government may institute a nearly 30 percent cut in payments to some hospitals for prescription drugs, a federal court has ruled. The cut, to the 340B program, was first proposed in 2017 the Department of Health and Human Services but has been blocked by the courts ever since. Last week, though, a federal appeals court paved the way for the reduction. Hospitals that serve especially large numbers of low-income patients participate in the federal 340B prescription drug discount program, which gives them discounts on prescriptions they distribute to [...]
Coronavirus Update for Monday, August 3
The following is the latest information from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Monday, August 3. Department of Health and Human Services HHS has issued a news alert titled “HHS Extends Application Deadline for Medicaid Providers and Plans to Reopen Portal to Certain Medicare Providers.” This means some providers will have new opportunities to pursue grants from the CARES Act’s Provider Relief Fund. The major subjects of this news release are: HHS is extending the deadline for applying for the phase 2 general distribution to Medicaid, Medicaid managed [...]