Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Little Progress So Far on Health Inequity, Report Says
The past 20 years have seen little progress in addressing health care inequity, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. According to the report, Despite spending the most on health care among high-income countries, the U.S. has some of the worst population health outcomes… The U.S. health care system is highly influenced by societal factors, and delivers different outcomes for different populations by its very design. The system’s inadequacies disproportionately affect minoritized populations, with stark racial and ethnic inequities in life expectancy, maternal [...]
The Times Looks at PBMs
The New York Times this week began an in-depth look at pharmacy benefit managers: the companies that administer the prescription drug benefits of more than 200 million Americans. As the Times notes, only three companies dominate the market, and its report examines when, how, and if PBMs save money for insurers and consumers; how they charge for prescription drugs; how they influence consumer access to prescription drugs – and the timeliness of that access; the effect they are having on independent pharmacies; how they make money; the influence they have [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for June 20
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for June 14-20. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. No Surprises Act HHS and the departments of Labor and the Treasury have announced a policy that offers extra time to health care providers whose desire to engage in No Surprises Act adjudication of payment disagreements with payers was affected by the Change Healthcare cybersecurity attack. Under this temporary policy, providers, facilities, and providers of air ambulance services whose ability to initiate timely [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for June 13
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for June 7-13. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government document. Supreme Court The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to how the Department of Health and Human Services calculates hospitals’ Medicare disproportionate share (Medicare DSH) payments. The case was added to the court’s 2024-2025 schedule. Congress Individual members and key committees in Congress continue to introduce and mark up health care-related legislation with an eye toward including these initiatives in an [...]
Supreme Court to Review Medicare DSH Case
The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to how the federal government calculates Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments (Medicare DSH) for hospitals that serve especially large numbers of low-income patients. At the heart of the issue is the Department of Health and Human Services’ contention that patients who are enrolled in Social Security’s Supplemental Security Income program but are not receiving supplemental payments at the time of their admission to a hospital should not count toward a hospital’s percentage of low-income patients in the calculation of Medicare DSH payments. A [...]