Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
MedPAC Meets
The government agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment matters met publicly in Washington, D.C. last week. During the virtual meeting, members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission discussed and debated: differences in quality measure results across Medicare populations policy options for increasing Medicare payments to primary care clinicians aligning fee-for-service payment rates across ambulatory settings mandated report: evaluation of a prototype design for a post-acute care prospective payment system supporting Medicare safety-net hospitals MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises Congress on issues involving Medicare. While its recommendations [...]
FEDERAL HEALTH POLICY UPDATE FOR November 3
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for the week of October 31 to November 3. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Medicare Payment Regulations In the past week CMS has published four regulations presenting how it will pay providers in the coming year. Outpatient prospective payment system – CMS announced a 3.8 percent increase for Medicare outpatient and ambulatory surgical payments. It also adopted its proposal to establish rural emergency hospitals as a new kind of hospital provider; [...]
A Bump in the Road for Telehealth?
Maybe. A new study suggests that telehealth follow-up may not be ideal after a visit to the hospital emergency department. According to a study based on a very limited scope of ED cases, … telehealth follow-up was associated with 28.3 more repeated ED encounters and 10.6 more return hospital admissions per 1000 patients compared with in-person follow-up. Further, … telehealth follow-up visits after ED encounters were associated with higher rates of repeated hospital visits even after controlling for presentation acuity, comorbidities, and sociodemographic factors. Learn more about how the study [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for October 27
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for the week of October 21 to October 27. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. 340B Responding to a federal court ruling that the federal government has shortchanged hospitals in its payments for 340B-covered prescription drugs, CMS has announced how it will compensate hospitals for its underpayments – at least for the 2023 fiscal year. According to CMS, it “…will apply the default rate (generally ASP plus 6%) to 340B-acquired drugs for [...]
Results of Annual Survey of State Medicaid Programs
The Kaiser Family Foundation has published the results of its annual survey of state Medicaid programs for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years. Among the survey’s findings (in language taken directly from the Kaiser report): More than 3/4 of states that contract with MCOs [managed care organizations] enroll ≥75% of all beneficiaries in MCOs Some states reported newly implementing or expanding MCO programs States also report continued use of other service delivery and payment system reforms Two-thirds of states are using strategies to improve race, ethnicity, and language data About [...]