Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Medicaid in the Spotlight
State-option work requirements. A cap on federal spending. New flexibility for states to address eligibility, benefits, and provider payments. Rolling back the Affordable Care Act’s eligibility expansion. Medicaid is under the policy microscope in Washington these days in ways it has not been for many years as the new administration continues to work to put its stamp on the federal government’s major program to provide health care to low-income Americans. What are policy-makers considering and what are the potential implications of their efforts? Learn more in the new Health Affairs [...]
Conflicts of Interest Mar HCBS
States’ efforts to provide home- and community-based services to elderly and disabled Medicaid beneficiaries who need assistance to continue living independently continue to be plagued with conflicts of interest that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is not adequately addressing. Or so concludes a new study published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. According to the GAO, …conflict of interest remain in regard to HCBS providers and managed care plans. HCBS providers may have a financial interest in the outcome of needs assessments, which could lead to overstating needs [...]
Safety-Net Hospitals Under the Gun
Safety-net hospitals across the country face a new challenge: adjusting to several cuts in the supplemental payments they receive from the federal government to help them serve the low-income residents of the communities in which they are located. First there is a $2 billion cut in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments (Medicaid DSH). These are payments made to hospitals that serve especially large numbers of low-income patients. These payments help safety-net hospitals with the unreimbursed expenses they incur caring for such patients. This cut, mandated by the Affordable Care Act [...]
MedPAC Meets
Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission held two days of public meetings in Washington, D.C. During the sessions MedPAC, a non-partisan legislative branch agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues, addressed the following subjects: a Medicare Advantage status report a Medicare prescription drug program (Part D) status report hospital inpatient and outpatient payments physician payments ambulatory surgical center, dialysis center, and hospice payments post-acute care facility payments the hospital readmissions reduction program telehealth accountable care organizations Go here to see the issue briefs and presentations used during the [...]
Administration Lays Groundwork for Medicaid Work Requirements
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued guidelines for states interested in adding a work requirement component to their Medicaid programs. With nearly a dozen states applying to implement controversial Medicaid work requirements, CMS has issued a guidance letter to state Medicaid directors outlining the criteria it will use when considering such applications. The new policy does not mandate work requirements in state Medicaid programs; it only presents the parameters CMS will use when considering the applications of states wishing to impose such requirements. For more information about [...]