Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
House to Set Sights on Medicare, Medicaid Cuts in 2018
The House of Representatives will pursue entitlement spending cuts next year, House Speaker Paul Ryan recently explained on a radio program. That means Medicare, Medicaid, and possibly even Social Security. Ryan said that We're going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit... Frankly, it's the health care entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt, so we spend more time on the health care entitlements — because that's really where the problem lies, fiscally speaking. Learn more about Ryan’s remarks, the [...]
MedPAC Meets
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. last week. Among the issues on the agenda of the independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues were: payment adequacy for physicians and other health professional services An alternative to the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) payment adequacy for hospital inpatient and outpatient services payment adequacy for ambulatory surgical center services payment adequacy and improving the equity of payments for skilled nursing facility services payment adequacy for inpatient rehabilitation services payment adequacy for long-term-care hospital services payment adequacy for [...]
Hospitals, Trade Groups Differ on Supervision Requirements
According to provider representatives and trade groups, the requirement that physicians supervise the administration of outpatient therapeutic services to Medicare patients in critical access and small rural hospitals is onerous and could limit patient access to such services. The people who run those hospitals don’t agree. That is the conclusion reached by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which looked into the matter after Congress overturned a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services supervision requirement in the 21st Century Cures Act because, as MedPAC observed, CAH and rural hospital representatives…expressed concerns [...]
ED Myths Exposed
The uninsured do not use emergency rooms more than the insured. And the expansion of health insurance coverage increases rather than decreases ER use. So concludes the new Health Affairs study “The Uninsured Do Not Use the Emergency Department More – They Use Other Care Less.” Find the study here.
Fitch: Stable Outlook for Health Care in 2018
Despite a number of potential threats, Fitch Ratings predicts a stable financial environment for the health care industry in 2018. Fitch’s warns, though, of “outside disruptions” that could threaten that stability. Among those potential disruptions are tax reform legislation, government regulations, Amazon’s rumored entry into the industry, and advances in technology. The company predicts that ratings downgrades will exceed upgrades in the coming year. Learn more about Fitch’s predictions in this Healthcare Dive article.