hospitals

“Hospital at Home” Growing

The concept of treating “hospitalized” patients at home could play a more prominent role in the delivery of hospital services in the coming years. Hospital at home programs have been around for decades but took on greater importance when COVID-19 began filling hospital beds. With many communities experiencing a shortage of beds, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued an “acute hospital care at home waiver” in November of 2020 to help compensate for the bed shortage and encourage home programs. Now that the COVID crisis has passed, health care interests are not necessarily moving away from the idea [...]

iqtsupport2023-02-01T06:00:05-05:00February 1, 2023|hospitals, Medicare, Medicare regulations|

Federal Health Policy Update for December 22

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for the week of December 19-22. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress As of this writing, Congress continues to work on an FY 2023 omnibus spending bill: the Senate has passed it but the House has not yet addressed it. Highlights of what negotiators have agreed to – but that have not yet been adopted – include: Preventing the additional four percent Medicare sequester for two years. Reducing by more than half the 4.5 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians [...]

iqtsupport2022-12-22T17:30:38-05:00December 22, 2022|Affordable Care Act, Alternative payment models, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, Congress, COVID-19, hospitals, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare bad debt reimbursement, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, Telehealth|

Federal Health Policy Update for December 15

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for the week of December 12-15. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. White House The White House has unveiled its “COVID-19 Winter Preparedness Plan,” the major components of which are expanding easy access to free COVID-19 testing options in the winter; making vaccinations and treatments readily available as cases rise; preparing personnel and resources; and focusing on protecting the highest-risk Americans. Learn more about the plan from this White House fact sheet and go here for a transcript of the White House [...]

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 sessions. The December 2022 MACPAC meeting began with a Commission discussion on two potential recommendations for improving Medicaid race and ethnicity data reporting. As part of its commitment to prioritizing health equity in all of its work, the Commission is focused on how to improve Medicaid race and ethnicity data collection and reporting. In October, staff presented findings from a literature review and key stakeholder interviews, as well as possible approaches for improving the collection [...]

iqtsupport2022-12-15T06:00:20-05:00December 15, 2022|hospitals, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid managed care, Medicaid regulations, Medicaid regulations for long-term care|

MedPAC Considers 2023 Medicare Rates at December Meeting

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: Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: hospital inpatient and outpatient services and supporting Medicare safety-net hospitals – commissioners discussed a proposal to increase FY 2024 rates one percentage point more than current law prescribes. Commissioners also discussed additional steps they might take to provide better support to safety-net hospitals, which they described as “…hospitals with high shares of low-income Medicare patients.” Status report: ambulatory surgical center services. Assessing payment [...]

iqtsupport2022-12-14T06:00:43-05:00December 14, 2022|Congress, hospitals, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

CBO Looks For Cost-Cutting Opportunities

The Congressional Budget Office periodically issues a compendium of policy options for changing federal tax and spending policies in particular areas and reducing federal spending. For each option the CBO presents an estimate of its effect on the budget without making recommendations either in favor of or against those options. The latest update of options includes a number with potential implications for health care providers, including: changing the cost-sharing rules for Medicare and restricting medigap insurance reducing Medicare Advantage benchmarks reducing Medicare’s coverage of bad debt consolidating and reducing federal payments for graduate medical education at teaching hospitals establishing caps [...]

iqtsupport2022-12-13T06:00:58-05:00December 13, 2022|deficit reduction, hospitals, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare bad debt reimbursement|

Tough Decision Looms for Rural Hospitals

Amid growing number of rural hospitals closing for financial reasons, the federal government believes it has come up with a solution to help slow those closings: a new provider type called a “Rural Emergency Hospital” that offers struggling facilities roughly $3 million a year in cash. The catch? To receive the money they must stop providing inpatient services and transfer patients who need such care to other facilities. More than 1700 rural U.S. hospitals will have the option of participating in the program, but while the money may save some hospitals, those hospitals will never be the same. Doing so [...]

iqtsupport2022-12-12T06:00:25-05:00December 12, 2022|hospitals|

FEDERAL HEALTH POLICY UPDATE FOR December 1

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for the week of November 28 to December 1. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. 340B HHS and its Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) have proposed revising the current 340B administrative dispute resolution process. Since the current process was introduced in 2020 HRSA has encountered policy and operational challenges with its implementation and now proposes revising it and is soliciting comment on its proposed new approach. Changes include changing the nature of the dispute resolution process, using different kinds of professionals [...]

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 are not binding on Congress or the administration, MedPAC is [...]

iqtsupport2022-11-08T06:00:13-05:00November 8, 2022|hospitals, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

Hospitals to Continue to Face Staffing Challenges

While the number of health care employment openings is now declining and fewer health care workers are leaving their jobs, non-profit hospitals can expect to continue facing staffing challenges in the near future. At least that’s what Fitch Ratings says in a new report. “Despite some relief of late, U.S. not-for-profit hospitals are in for several challenging months with healthcare and social assistance job vacancies still high against a backdrop of low unemployment, according to Fitch Ratings in its labor dashboard for the sector,” the report said. Learn more from this Fitch Ratings news release.

iqtsupport2022-10-26T06:00:17-04:00October 26, 2022|hospitals|