Medicaid

Coronavirus Update for Wednesday, September 23

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23. Continuing Resolution to Fund the Federal Government The House has passed, and the Senate is expected to take up and pass as soon as this week, a continuing resolution to fund the federal government from the beginning of the new fiscal year, on October 1, through December 11; the president is expected to sign the measure. Key health care provisions in this continuing resolution include: Changes in the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Program that extend the period before repayment begins and [...]

iqtsupport2020-09-24T13:31:41-04:00September 24, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medicaid, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH|

MFAR is Dead

At least for now. The controversial Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation, slated for implementation this fall over the objections of many health care stakeholders, will not move forward at this time. In a tweet earlier this week, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma wrote that We've listened closely to concerns that have been raised by our state and provider partners about potential unintended consequences of the proposed rule, which require further study. Therefore, CMS is withdrawing the rule from the regulatory agenda. If implemented, opponents maintained, the regulation would have: Deprived states of important, established policy-making prerogatives. Created [...]

iqtsupport2020-09-16T06:00:25-04:00September 16, 2020|Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

Medicaid Enrollment on the Rise

More people are enrolling in Medicaid, and much of the increase is driven by the COVID-19 emergency. Or so reports the organization Families USA in a new study. According to the study, Over half of the 38 states reporting monthly enrollment through May or later have seen greater than 7% growth in enrollment since February. For the eight states reporting August enrollment, their average enrollment growth since February is approximately 11%. But the implications are even greater, according to the analysis, which found that in large part because of COVID-19 job loss, Medicaid enrollment among the 38 states reporting has [...]

iqtsupport2020-09-15T06:00:57-04:00September 15, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medicaid|

How Medicaid Managed Care Cuts Costs

Low-cost Medicaid managed care plans mostly cut their costs by reducing how much care, and how much high-quality care, their members receive. That is the conclusion of a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. According to the study, Medicaid managed care plans succeed in reducing costs less by cost-sharing, negotiating lower provider rates, employing narrow networks, and doing a better job of managing their members’ high-cost chronic medical conditions than they do by leading their members to use fewer high-value, low-cost services such as cancer and diabetes screenings and fewer high-value drugs. The researchers note that [...]

iqtsupport2020-09-02T06:00:59-04:00September 2, 2020|Medicaid|

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 [...]

iqtsupport2020-08-11T10:33:28-04:00August 11, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy|

Coronavirus Update: March 31, 2020

Coronavirus Update: March 31, 2020 Yesterday the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a major update of Medicare and Medicaid regulations that included blanket waivers of a large number of Medicare and Medicaid regulations and requirements. The following is a summary of the major aspects of this new regulation. New Policies and Waivers From Medicare and Medicaid Regulations and Requirements CMS has introduced dozens of changes that involve waivers from current regulations and requirements. A comprehensive, 26-page CMS document describing these changes can be found here and below are the highlights organized into four broad categories: increasing [...]

iqtsupport2020-03-31T20:24:34-04:00March 31, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations, Medicare, Medicare regulations, Telehealth|

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.

iqtsupport2020-03-16T06:00:32-04:00March 16, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid|

Block Grants Could Hurt Medicaid, Study Finds

A switch to block grants to fund state Medicaid programs “…would require states to cut coverage, reduce benefits, increase cost-sharing, lower provider payment rates, or otherwise reduce Medicaid expenditures as compared to current law spending levels” according to a new Commonwealth Fund study. The study, conducted in the wake of the Trump administration’s new guidance on how states can transform their Medicaid programs into block grants and its encouragement that they do so, suggests that such efforts could result in considerable harm to Medicaid beneficiaries, providers of Medicaid-covered services, and state government finances. Meanwhile, the federal government’s share of state [...]

iqtsupport2020-03-11T11:34:50-04:00March 11, 2020|Medicaid|

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 February 2020 MACPAC meeting opened with a continuation of MACPAC’s examination of Medicaid’s role in maternal health, when Medicaid officials from Michigan, New Jersey, and North Carolina joined the Commission to discuss how their states are addressing maternal morbidity and mortality.* The Commission plans to include a chapter on maternal health in its June 2020 report to Congress. Commissioners later turned their attention to policy options for improving enrollment in the Medicare Savings Program. [...]

iqtsupport2020-03-06T06:00:04-05:00March 6, 2020|hospitals, Medicaid, Medicaid managed care, Medicaid regulations, Medicare|

MFAR Backlash Continues

Diverse health care and government interests are rallying around their opposition to the proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability rule. The regulation, proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in November, would impose new limits on the ability of states to finance their share of their Medicaid spending, potentially jeopardizing provider payments and the ability of high-volume Medicaid providers to operate without suffering great losses. In all, CMS received more than 4200 written comments in response to the proposed regulation, most of them expressing opposition. Among those doing so were state governments, the National Governors Association, hospitals and hospital associations, [...]

iqtsupport2020-03-02T06:00:22-05:00March 2, 2020|Medicaid, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid regulations|