Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Where Have All the Nursing Home Beds Gone?
Across the country, the supply of nursing homes is dwindling. Nationally, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports 900 fewer certified nursing homes in 2025 than in 2015. Why the decline? The most commonly cited reason is inadequate payments from Medicaid, the leading payer for nursing home care, which generally pays less than the daily cost of care. Another is staffing: nursing home jobs pay poorly and are considered stressful, making it difficult to attract and retain staff. Even the erosion in the number of beds may not completely [...]
CMS Eyes Major Cuts in Medicare Clinical Lab Rates
Medicare payments for clinical laboratory services will soon be coming down. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is working to bring Medicare’s clinical laboratory services rates into line with those paid by commercial insurers. Asserting that Medicare is now paying 16 percent more for clinical lab tests than commercial payers, the agency has posted proposed rates for calendar year 2027 that reflect the beginning of what in some cases will be a multi-year process of aligning public and private lab payments – “aligning” by reducing Medicare payments. Hospital laboratories [...]
Immigrant Families Skipping Health Care for Kids
Immigrant families with children appear to be avoiding seeking health care over concern about their immigration status, according to a new survey of pediatricians. The survey, conducted on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics, found that: Forty percent of pediatricians reported that immigrant families with children are avoiding seeking care for their children because of concern about their immigration status. Thirty-one percent said those same families were avoiding applying for any government programs, including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). More [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for September 17
Don’t Miss: CMS advises on “medical frailty” as qualification for Medicaid eligibility CMS unveils long-anticipated IDR Gateway Medicare ACCESS Model to expand The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for September 11-17. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress The House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss bills seeking to modify certain physician payments under Medicare, to address cybersecurity in the health care system, and to expand seniors’ access to care. See the [...]
Hospitals Continue to Struggle with Price Transparency
Since the beginning of 2021, hospitals have been required to make their prices transparent to the public. Five years later, roughly half of them do – more than at any point since the requirement took effect. But that also means that roughly half of them still do not. Under the law, hospitals are required to make their prices public via machine-readable files that show standard charges, gross prices, negotiated rates with specific payers, discounted cash prices, and prices for the 300 most commonly provided hospital services. Progress toward achieving this [...]