Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
CMS Will Continue Rolling Out Mandatory Models
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation intend to continue developing and introducing mandatory Medicare models with an emphasis on driving more value-based care. That is the message delivered by CMS administrator Mehmet Oz and CMMI director Abe Sutton during a recent conference. While the track record of CMMI’s models – both voluntary and mandatory – is not great, policymakers believe they remain the best way for government to continue encouraging health care providers to focus more on the delivery of value-based [...]
New Group Targets Hospitals
Insurance interests have joined forces to create a new group that is targeting hospitals and blaming them for rising health care costs. The group, called “Hospital Watch,” was formed last month and describes itself as … a watchdog group dedicated to shining a light on corporate hospitals as the top culprit in driving up U.S. healthcare costs – exposing corporate hospitals’ monopolistic practices in price gouging patients with excessive markups and hidden fees with no transparency while forcing patients and employers to pay more for their care. Hospital Watch is [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for March 5
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for February 27-March 6. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a full committee markup of nine bills addressing cybersecurity and digital safety. See that list here. Also on Thursday, the Senate HELP Committee conducted a hearing titled “Transforming Health Care with Data: Improving Patient Outcomes Through Next-Generation Care.” Find video of the hearing here. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) expressed interest in passing [...]
Rural Health Transformation Plans Face Pushback
In states across the country, legislators, hospital and health care groups, and others are objecting to the plans their state governments submitted to the federal government for how they would like to spend Rural Health Transformation funds – plans that federal regulators have already approved. In Colorado, Michigan, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming, legislators have even threatened to withhold the enabling legislation needed to spend the federal money. One of their primary objections is that the approved Rural Health Transformation program plans, consistent with federal guidelines, focus on innovation in [...]
States, Hospitals, Patients Brace for Big Beautiful Bill Effects
The effects of last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act will soon be felt by states, providers, and consumers and some of them are already preparing for the impact. States face an expected loss of $664 billion in Medicaid money over the next eight years as a result of 12 provisions in the 2025 law. The major causes: Medicaid work requirements that will reduce eligibility, more frequent eligibility redeterminations, and tougher limits on revenue-generating Medicaid provider taxes and Medicaid managed care state-directed payments. Some states will lose more than others. [...]