Bulletin Board

Expanded Mental Health Options Coming to Medicare

Beginning on January 1, Medicare beneficiaries will have access to more varied types of mental health services. At that time, mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists will become eligible to accept Medicare payments, joining the limited number of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers who have been serving the Medicare population as part of the first expansion of Medicare-eligible mental health providers since 1989. With Medicare planning to pay its new provider types 75 percent of what it pays psychologists, it is not clear how many of those new [...]

December 26, 2023|Categories: Medicare, Medicare reimbursement policy|Tags: Medicare, Medicare and behavioral health services, Medicare and mental health servies, Medicare reimbursement|

Federal Health Policy Update for December 20

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government December 14-20. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress The House is in recess until January 9. The Senate has delayed its recess to continue negotiations on a possible foreign aid and border policy deal. Democrats from the House Ways and Means Committee have published a report on the relationship between the U.S. health care system and climate change. View their report “Health Care and the Climate Crisis: Preparing America’s Health Care [...]

MACPAC Meets

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met for two days last week in Washington, D.C. The following is MACPAC’s own summary of the meeting. MACPAC’s December 2023 meeting opened with a session that highlighted findings related to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data collection as part of the Commission’s focus on the collection of primary language and limited English proficiency, SOGI, and disability data for the purposes of assessing and addressing health disparities. During this discussion, we reviewed the purpose of SOGI data and federal and state [...]

Federal Health Policy Update for December 14

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for December 8-14. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. MedPAC Rate Recommendations At their latest public meeting, members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted preliminary approval of the following rate updates for 2025 Medicare payments: Inpatient and outpatient services –update provided for in current law plus 1.5% and adoption of a safety-net index policy to pay safety-net hospitals another $4 billion. Physicians and other health professionals –update of 50% of the [...]

December 14, 2023|Categories: 340b, ACO, Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, COVID-19, health equity, Medicaid, Medicaid managed care, Medicaid regulations, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, post-acute care, Telehealth|Tags: 340B, AI in health care, artificial intelligence in health care, Department of Health and Human Services data strategy, Department of Health and Human Services National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s disease, federal action to reduce prescription drug prices, health care worker management platform, Health Data Technology and Interoperability Certification Program Updates Algorithm Transparency and information Sharing Rule, HHS Office of the Inspector General, Home Test to Treat Program, HTI-1, Inflation Reduction Act and Medicare Part B, Inflation Reduction Act and Medicare Part D, Medicaid home and community based services, medicare advantage value-based insurance design model, Medicare inpatient prospective payment system, Medicare inpatient rehabilitation facility prospective payment system, Medicare MIPS, Medicare outpatient prospective payment system, Medicare Part B clinical laboratory fee schedule, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, Medicare physician fee schedule, Medicare safety-net index, Medicare skilled nursing facility prospective payment system, MedPAC, MedPAC rate recommendations, merit-based incentive payment system, MLN Connects, No Surprises Act, prescription drug march-in rights, provider relief fund, state directed Medicaid payments, TEFCA, Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement|

MedPAC Meets, Makes 2025 Payment Recommendations

2025 Medicare payments led the agenda at last week’s meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. After hearing presentations on the various Medicare payment systems and discussing the adequacy of current Medicare reimbursement, MedPAC’s commissioners provisionally endorses the following changes in 2025 Medicare payments. Inpatient and outpatient services – an update provided for in current law plus 1.5 percent and a shift to a safety-net index policy that would pay safety-net hospitals another $4 billion. Physicians and other health professionals – an increase of 50 percent of the Medicare economic [...]

December 13, 2023|Categories: hospitals, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, post-acute care|Tags: Advisory Commission, Medicare home health prospective payment system, Medicare inpatient prospective payment system, Medicare inpatient rehabilitation prospective payment system, Medicare outpatient prospective payment system, Medicare Payment, Medicare physician fee schedule, Medicare skilled nursing facility prospective payment system, MedPAC, safety-net hospitals|

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