Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Medicaid APMs Moving in New Directions
For the most part, states’ use of alternative payment models in their Medicaid programs so far have focused on the work done by primary and acute-care providers. Now, a number of states are starting to extend their use of APMs in other areas, including: behavioral health providers safety-net providers long-term care providers For a look at what states are doing to drive value in Medicaid payments in these new areas, see the Commonwealth Fund article “The Next Generation of Paying for Value in Medicaid,” which can be found here.
Proposed “Public Charge” Regulation Could Hit Medicaid, Hospitals
If a regulation proposed by the Department of Homeland Security to redefine what constitutes a “public charge” is adopted, millions of people currently enrolled in the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program might choose to disenroll from those programs rather than risk losing their opportunity to obtain legal permanent resident status in the U.S. The proposed regulation seeks to filter out of possible residency status individuals who might become public charges, or dependent on government programs, over time. A new analysis published by the Kaiser Family Foundation concluded that Under [...]
CMS to Watch the Watchdogs
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services intends to pay closer attention to the work performed by accrediting organizations for different types of health care providers. With all providers and suppliers participating in Medicare subject to some kind of accreditation and inspection process, CMS intends to monitor more closely the work of those accreditors and inspectors after a 2018 Wall Street Journal investigation discovered facilities with continuing problems that continued to serve patients and keep their accreditation. With this in mind, CMS will redesign how accrediting organizations do their work, [...]
Physicians Push Back Against Medicare Telemedicine Proposal
A proposal to enable Medicare to make greater use of telemedicine as a means of serving patients is receiving surprising pushback from physicians. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has proposed paying doctors $14 for what would amount to a five-minute telephone “check-in” call with patients. Some physicians note that they already have such telephone conversations patients – and do not charge for those calls. Others fear the new service will increase their patients’ health care costs because they would incur a co-pay for such conversations. The chairman of [...]
MedPAC Meets
Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. The issues on MedPAC’s October agenda were: managing prescription opioid use in Medicare Part D opioids and alternatives in hospital settings: payments, incentives, and Medicare data Medicare payment policies for advanced practice registered nurses and physicians Medicare’s role in the supply of primary care physicians Medicare payments for services provided in inpatient psychiatric facilities episode-based payments and outcome measures under a unified payment system for post-acute care Medicare policy issues related [...]