Policy Updates

Nursing Homes Turning Away Addicted Patients

Nursing homes frequently refuse to serve patients being treated with medication to serve opioid addictions. They do so even though opioid addiction is considered a chronic disease and recognized as such under the Americans With Disabilities Act. While some nursing homes claim not to be aware of the obligation to serve such patients, others choose not to do so, with some claiming they lack the resources or expertise to serve such patients or that abstinence from opioid use is superior to medication as a treatment for opioid addiction. As a result, many acute-care hospitals have difficulty finding skilled nursing placements [...]

iqtsupport2018-05-02T06:00:40-04:00May 2, 2018|post-acute care|

CMS Mulls Direct Provider Contracting for Medicare

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is seeking public input on a proposal to permit Medicare beneficiaries to enter into direct contracts with primary care and multi-specialty providers. According to CMS, A DPC [direct provider contracting] model would aim to enhance the beneficiary-physician relationship by providing a platform for physician group practices to provide flexible, accessible, and high quality care to beneficiaries that have actively chosen this type of care model. The request for information, issued earlier this week, seeks public input on experience with direct provider contracting and asks interested parties to describe how Medicare might structure such [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-27T09:17:46-04:00April 27, 2018|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare|

Short-Term Plans May Short-Change Purchasers

The short-term health insurance plans that the administration proposes making more available to consumers as an alternative to comprehensive health insurance that meets Affordable Care Act coverage requirements may leave consumers with greater out-of-pocket costs and less coverage for some critical services. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation review of available short-term, limited duration plans in 10 markets across the country, those plans: often do not cover mental health and substance abuse services and outpatient prescription drugs may turn down individuals or charge them higher premiums based on age, gender, or health status, including pre-existing conditions require greater cost-sharing by [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-25T06:00:12-04:00April 25, 2018|Uncategorized|

MACPAC Meets

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, a non-partisan legislative branch agency that advises Congress, the administration, and the states on Medicaid and CHIP issues, met publicly in Washington, D.C. last week. The following is MACPAC’s own summary of its two days of meetings. The April 2018 meeting began with session on social determinants of health. Panelists Jocelyn Guyer of Manatt Health Solutions, Arlene Ash of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Kevin Moore of UnitedHealthcare Community & State discussed state approaches to financing social interventions through Medicaid. In its second morning session, the Commission reviewed a draft [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-23T06:00:05-04:00April 23, 2018|MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid long-term services and supports, Medicaid managed care, Medicaid regulations|

ACA Has Increased Primary Care Utilization

A new study found that the increase in the number of insured Americans as a result of the Affordable Care Act has resulted in increased utilization of primary health care services. According to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, primary care utilization rose 3.8 percent, mammograms 1.5 percent, HIV tests 2.1 percent, and flu shots 1.9 percent over a three-year period. The study suggests that preventive care increased between 17 and 50 percent. The study attributes all of the gains to improved access to private insurance and none to Medicaid expansion. These results are based on self-reported [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-19T06:00:03-04:00April 19, 2018|Affordable Care Act|

MedPAC Mulls Uniform Outcome Measures to Complement Unified Post-Acute Payments

In support of its proposal that Medicare adopt a unified payment system for post-acute-care services, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is exploring how to develop uniform outcome measures to support such a new payment system. Under the MedPAC vision, articulated at its early April public meeting, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, long-term-care hospitals, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities would see their outcomes quantified based on their performance on a series of quality measures. Meanwhile, there has been little congressional interest in the unified post-acute payment proposal so far. While some aspects of such a proposal could be implemented administratively, the [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-18T06:00:59-04:00April 18, 2018|Medicare, Medicare regulations, MedPAC, post-acute care|

MedPAC to Congress: Cut Payments to Freestanding Emergency Facilities

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has urged Congress to reduce Medicare payments to freestanding emergency departments 30 percent. The recommendation, approved by MedPAC earlier this month and to be included in its June report to Congress, notes that such facilities have a lower cost structure because they typically lack some of the equipment, personnel, and standby capabilities of hospital ERs. In making its recommendation, MedPAC also noted that freestanding ERs typically treat patients whose conditions are not as severe as hospital ERs and tend to be located in areas that already have adequate access to hospital ERs. While MedPAC’s recommendations [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-17T13:33:12-04:00April 17, 2018|hospitals, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met last week in Washington, D.C. to address a number of Medicare reimbursement-related issues. Among the subjects on MedPAC’s agenda were: using payments to ensure appropriate access to and use of hospital emergency department services uniform outcome measures for post-acute care applying MedPAC’s principles for measuring quality: hospital quality incentives Medicare coverage policy and use of low-value care long-term issues confronting Medicare accountable care organizations managed care plans for dual-eligible beneficiaries While MedPAC’s policy and payment recommendations are not binding on Congress or the administration, its views are respected and influential and often become the [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-09T06:00:21-04:00April 9, 2018|Accountable Care Organization, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|

Medicaid is Toughest Insurer for Providers

Medicaid is the hardest insurer for providers when it comes to billing. Or so reports a new study published in the journal Health Affairs. According to this analysis, Medicaid claims take longer to file, are more likely to be rejected, more likely to be challenged, and take longer to be paid than Medicare and private insurance claims. While the biggest problem is Medicaid fee-for-service claims, even Medicaid managed care claims pose more problems than Medicare and private insurance claims. Learn more about the challenges providers face when working with Medicaid in the Health Affairs report “The Complexity Of Billing And [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-05T06:00:27-04:00April 5, 2018|Medicaid|

Eat! You’ll Feel Better

And maybe need to spend less on health care. That is the lesson learned from a program in Massachusetts that provided home delivery of food to dually eligible Medicare/Medicaid recipients who were struggling with their meals. In a limited experiment, selected individuals received home delivery of food: some received general meal deliveries while others received food tailored to their individual medical conditions. The purpose: address a major social determinant of health in this difficult-to-serve population. The result, according to a report published in the journal Health Affairs, was that Participants in the medically tailored meal program also had fewer inpatient [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-04T06:00:52-04:00April 4, 2018|Uncategorized|