Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

CMS Provides Guidance on Medicaid DSH Calculations

State Medicaid program accounting for hospital uncompensated care when calculating hospital-specific Medicaid disproportionate share limits is the subject of new guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In the guidance, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services explains that because of several court rulings, states can decide for themselves whether to offset third-party payer payments from costs in their Medicaid DSH calculations for periods prior to June 2, 2017 but that beginning with that date,  CMS will enforce its own interpretation of the policy. In new guidance, CMS presents two methodologies for accounting for its mid-year policy change [...]

2020-08-29T13:00:57-04:00August 29, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid regulations|
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Feds Delay Stark Rule, Anti-Kickback Update

An update of regulations that limit the ability of doctors to refer patients for care to sources in which those doctors have a financial interest will wait as long as another year, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS had previously proposed regulations updating current guidelines, essentially easing them, but provider comment was so great – often, saying that the easing of the guidelines did not go far enough – that the agency decided to step back and review the situation. In a public inspection version of a notice to be published in the Federal Register, CMS [...]

2020-08-29T06:00:59-04:00August 29, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare, Medicare regulations|
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OIG Cites Medicare, Medicaid Among Top Unimplemented Recommendations

CMS has failed to implement many of the policy changes recommended to it by HHS’s Office of the Inspector General, according to a new OIG report. Every year the Department of Health and Human Services’ OIG offers recommendations for policy changes designed to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in HHS programs.  This week, the OIG published “OIG’s Top Unimplemented Recommendations:  Solutions to Reduce Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in HHS Programs.” Among the top 25 unimplemented recommendations to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are 14 involving Medicare and Medicaid.  Its top 10 unimplemented Medicare recommendations are: CMS should take [...]

2020-08-11T10:33:28-04:00August 11, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy|
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MedPAC Offers 2021 Medicare Rate Recommendations

MedPAC has recommended to Congress changes in Medicare payment rates in the coming year. In its annual report to Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommended the following rate changes: acute-care hospitals – a two percent rate increase and a suggestion that the difference between this two percent increase and the payment increase specified by law be used to increase the rewards hospitals may earn under Medicare’s hospital value incentive program.  As a result, the value incentive program would offer a possible 0.8 percent in bonus payments, and with the recommended elimination of the 0.5 percent penalty for which hospitals [...]

2020-03-26T11:48:02-04:00March 26, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|
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CMS Posts COVID-19 FAQ for State Medicaid and CHIP Agencies

State Medicaid agencies and CHIP programs have received new guidance on the federal resources available to them to fight the COVID-19 national health emergency through a new FAQ published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last week. Among the issues addressed in the FAQ are eligibility, enrollment, benefits, cost sharing, workforce issues, telehealth, and more.  Health care providers may find this information useful when serving their patients. See CMS’s news release describing the FAQ here and the FAQ itself here.

2020-03-16T06:00:32-04:00March 16, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid|
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MedPAC Meets

Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. The issues on MedPAC’s March agenda were: Addressing Medicare Shared Savings Program vulnerabilities The role of specialists in alternative payment models and accountable care organizations Realigning incentives in Medicare Part D Redesigning the Medicare Advantage quality bonus program Mandated report: Impact of changes in the 21st Century Cures Act to risk adjustment for Medicare Advantage enrollees Improving Medicare’s end-stage renal disease prospective payment system Separately payable drugs in the hospital outpatient prospective payment system MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises [...]

2020-03-09T09:40:54-04:00March 9, 2020|Accountable Care Organization, ACO, Alternative payment models, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|
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CMS to Look at Accrediting Agencies

Health care accrediting organizations will be the subject of scrutiny and possible action by the federal government in the coming months. At a recent conference, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seem Verma said that Receiving CMS’s authorization to inspect and deem healthcare providers compliant with Medicare’s quality standards is nothing short of assuming a sacred public trust…But an increasing amount of evidence indicates that accrediting organizations are not living up to that high bar. According to Verma, CMS’s interest is motivated by a number of recent incidents of “serious deficiencies” among hospitals that had been found compliant with [...]

2020-02-27T06:00:36-05:00February 27, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services|
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340B Déjà Vu: CMS Seeks to Collect Data From Hospitals

For the second time in four months, the federal government has announced its intention to collect data from hospitals and other providers on what they pay for the prescription drugs they purchase through the section 340B prescription drug discount program. Last week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published a notice announcing its intention to collect this data.  Previously, health care interests sued CMS when it attempted in 2018 to reduce payments to providers for drugs purchased through the 340B program and the court ruled against CMS, maintaining that the agency did not have enough data on hospitals’ acquisition [...]

2020-02-12T06:00:24-05:00February 12, 2020|340b, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services|
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Verma Responds to Medicaid Block Grant Critics

Last week the Trump administration unveiled its Healthy Adult Opportunity program, a new, optional, already-controversial approach to structuring state Medicaid programs. Ever since, the program – essentially, Medicaid block grants – has been the subject of criticism from many public officials and health care stakeholders. Now, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma, who oversaw the development of Healthy Adult Opportunity, has responded to the program’s critics in an op-ed piece published in the Washington Post.  See her commentary “No, the Trump administration is not cutting Medicaid.”

2020-02-11T11:55:58-05:00February 11, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid|
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