Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Federal Health Policy Update for January 18
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for January 12-16. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress Medicaid DSH With a partial government shutdown looming on Friday, January 19, congressional leaders have agreed to extend the current stopgap legislation temporarily funding the federal government. Under this agreement, the four spending bills scheduled to expire this Friday would be extended until March 1 and the eight bills set to expire on February 2 would be extended until March 8. The [...]
Acute Hospital Care at Home Shows Promise
The Acute Hospital Care at Home program, launched by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services during the COVID-19 pandemic to free hospital beds for COVID and other sick patients, is showing promise as an alternative to hospital care for at least some patients. In an analysis of more than 5000 Medicare patients participating in the Acute Hospital Care at Home program from mid-2022 through mid-2023, only 0.5 percent of participants passed away while being served by the program at home and only 6.2 percent required a return to a [...]
MedPAC Meets, Finalizes 2025 Payment Recommendations
2025 Medicare payments led the agenda at last week’s meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. After hearing presentations on the various Medicare payment systems and discussing the adequacy of current Medicare reimbursement, MedPAC’s commissioners voted to recommend the following changes in 2025 Medicare payments. Inpatient and outpatient services – an update provided for in current law plus 1.5 percent and a shift to a safety-net index policy that would pay safety-net hospitals another $4 billion. Physicians and other health professionals – an increase of 50 percent of the Medicare [...]
Medicare Underpayment of Hospitals Continues
Medicare paid hospitals only 82 percent of what they spent caring for Medicare patients in 2022, according to a new analysis. That amounted to a Medicare payment shortfall of nearly $100 billion. Learn more about these numbers, how they were calculated, and what they mean for hospitals and their Medicare patients from the American Hospital Association report “Medicare Significantly Underpays Hospitals for Cost of Patient Care.”
Federal Health Policy Update for January 11
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for January 5 - 11. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS will establish 200 new Medicare-funded residency slots in FY 2025. Learn more about the additional slots here and find information about how to apply for those slots here. The deadline for applications is March 31. CMS released guidance for Medicare Part D plans that describes coverage and processing claims for COVID-19 therapeutics. Medicare Part [...]