Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
End of PHE Spells End of Additional Money to Care for COVID Patients
When the COVID-19 public health emergency ends on May 11, the 20 percent increase in Medicare payments to hospitals caring for Medicare patients suffering from the disease will end as well. In the first two years under this payment policy, which took effect in January of 2020, the federal government paid more than $23 billion to hospitals caring for COVID patients. Of that amount, 20 percent consisted of the supplemental payment. Learn more about the end of these additional payments and what it may mean for hospitals and Medicare beneficiaries [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for February 16
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for February 6-16. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. No Surprises Act A federal judge in Texas has vacated parts of a regulation governing the arbitration process that is a major aspect of implementation of the No Surprises Act. In his ruling, the judge found that the arbitration process unfairly favored payers over providers, most notably by placing undue emphasis on the qualified payment amount (QPA) that is a major part of [...]
Surprise Billing Law Stumbles in Court
A federal judge in Texas has vacated part of the arbitration process that is a major aspect of the No Surprises Act, the federal law enacted to reduce surprise medical bills. In the wake of this ruling, the Department of Health and Human Services has directed the entities charged with mediating payment disagreements to stop making decisions. In the Texas case challenging the fairness of the independent dispute resolution process that is a key component of the surprise billing law’s implementation, the federal judge found that the arbitration process unfairly [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for February 6
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for the week of January 23 to February 6. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. 340B Pharmaceutical companies may restrict the ability of providers to use specialty and community pharmacies to distribute 340B-covered drugs, a federal appeals court has decided. See the court’s ruling here. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has revised its fact sheets about COVID-19 public health emergency waivers and flexibilities for different types of providers, updating which [...]
“Hospital at Home” Growing
The concept of treating “hospitalized” patients at home could play a more prominent role in the delivery of hospital services in the coming years. Hospital at home programs have been around for decades but took on greater importance when COVID-19 began filling hospital beds. With many communities experiencing a shortage of beds, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued an “acute hospital care at home waiver” in November of 2020 to help compensate for the bed shortage and encourage home programs. Now that the COVID crisis has passed, health [...]