Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation

New Health Care Leaders Share Priorities

New leaders at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation are quickly making their priorities known to health care industry stakeholders. For new CMS administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, her priority is coverage. She has declared that “Our focus is going to be on making sure regulations and policies are going to be focused on improving coverage,” and while she hopes that states that have not yet expanded their Medicaid programs will take advantage of current federal incentives to do so, there is another path to coverage: “…the public option or other coverage certainly [...]

iqtsupport2021-06-10T06:00:44-04:00June 10, 2021|Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid|

MedPAC Meets

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. last week to discuss various Medicare payment issues. Among the issues discussed at MedPAC’s April meeting were: Medicare skilled nursing facility value-based purchased program. Medicare alternative payment models (APMs). Medicare Advantage benchmark policy. Medicare indirect medical education (Medicare IME) payments. Medicare vaccine coverage and payments. Medicare payment for prescription drugs prescribed on an outpatient basis. Private equity and Medicare. Medicare clinical laboratory fee schedule. MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises Congress on issues involving Medicare. While its recommendations are not binding on either Congress or the administration, MedPAC is [...]

iqtsupport2021-04-07T06:00:07-04:00April 7, 2021|Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, CMMI, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

CMS Ponders Future of Medicare Payment Models

The new administration has delayed the planned launch of several new Medicare payment models and ultimately may choose not to move forward with some or to alter them. The models currently under review by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are: Primary Care First Kidney Care Choices Geographic Direct Contracting Part D Payment Modernization Model Learn more from the Becker’s Hospital Review article “CMS payment models that are under review, delayed.”

iqtsupport2021-03-30T06:00:20-04:00March 30, 2021|Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, Medicare reimbursement policy|

MedPAC Meets

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. recently to discuss various Medicare payment issues. Among the issues discussed at MedPAC’s January meeting were: hospital inpatient and outpatient payments physician and health professionals payments the possible expansion of the post-acute transfer policy to hospice ambulatory surgical center, outpatient dialysis, and hospice payments Medicare payments for skilled nursing facilities, long-term hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and home health services the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s development and implementation of alternative payment models the future of telehealth after the COVID-19 public health emergency ends a status report on the Medicare Part [...]

iqtsupport2021-01-25T06:00:58-05:00January 25, 2021|Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, CMMI, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

Feds Looking to Bundle Medicare Post-Acute Payments?

Bring us your ideas for bundling Medicare post-acute-care payments, the head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation recently told a gathering of hospital officials in Washington, D.C. As reported by Fierce Healthcare, CMMI director Adam Boehler told hospital officials that Now is the time to bring us ideas. We’re really in listening mode…I think there’s been a lot of intrigue and interest we’ve heard from people. So we’re gathering stakeholder input there on that and it’s a great time to give us thoughts on where we can lower costs. Learn more from the Fierce Healthcare article "CMMI's Adam [...]

iqtsupport2019-04-15T06:00:16-04:00April 15, 2019|Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, CMMI, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, post-acute care|

“Oh Say Can We See?”: Ways & Means Leaders Seek CMMI Transparency

The chairman and ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee have written to CMS administrator Seema Verma to ask her to address the lack of transparency in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. In the bipartisan letter, committee chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) and ranking member Kevin Brady (R-TX) note that “…Congress established CMMI to test different innovative delivery system and payment models to improve quality and reduce costs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries” but observe that “…significant policy changes made unilaterally by the executive branch without sufficient transparency could yield unintended negative consequences for beneficiaries and the [...]

iqtsupport2019-01-18T06:00:19-05:00January 18, 2019|Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation|

Medicaid to Help Pay for Food, Heat, Rent?

Maybe. At least that is what Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar hinted during a recent symposium held in Salt Lake City. During the event, Azar said that HHS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation seeks …solutions for the whole person, including addressing housing, nutrition, and other social needs. Azar hinted at future CMMI action, saying that What if we gave organizations more flexibility so they could pay a beneficiary's rent if they were in unstable housing, or make sure that a diabetic had access to, and could afford, nutritious food? If that sounds like an exciting idea [...]

iqtsupport2018-11-16T06:00:28-05:00November 16, 2018|Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Medicaid, Medicaid and housing for the disabled|

Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative Showing Mixed Results

The federal Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative is achieving some of its objectives but not others, according to a new Health Affairs study. The program, according to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, seeks to use five means – risk-stratified care management, improved access to and continuity of care, planned care for chronic conditions and preventive care, patient and caregiver engagement, and coordination of care – to “achieve improved care, better health for populations, and lower costs, and can inform future Medicare and Medicaid policy.” According to the Health Affairs study, the program is achieving some of these objectives. CPC [...]

iqtsupport2018-07-09T06:00:24-04:00July 9, 2018|Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation|

CMS Announces Drive to Reduce Paperwork

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is launching a new “Meaningful Measures” initiative that will seek to reduce the regulatory burden on health care providers. According to a CMS news release, Meaningful Measures …will involve only assessing those core issues that are most vital to providing high-quality care and improving patient outcomes. The agency aims to focus on outcome-based measures going forward, as opposed to trying to micromanage processes.. In a speech at the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network, CMS administrator Seema Verma explained that this project will include moving the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation [...]

iqtsupport2017-11-02T06:00:16-04:00November 2, 2017|Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services|

CMS to Consider Model Behavioral Health Payment and Delivery Program

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has invited interested parties to weigh in on the possibility of creating a new Medicare model program for behavioral health care delivery and payment. According to a notice published in the Federal Register, The Innovation Center is interested in designing a potential payment or service delivery model to improve health care quality and access, while lowering the cost of care for Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP beneficiaries with behavioral health conditions. The model may include participation by other payers, qualify as an Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM), improve health care provider participation in telehealth [...]

iqtsupport2017-07-25T06:00:10-04:00July 25, 2017|Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, CMMI, Medicare|