Policy Updates

Federal Health Policy Update for October 26

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for October 20-26. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress More than three weeks after House Republicans voted Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA) out of the speaker’s office, the House has elected Rep. Mike Johnson (LA) to the position. Speaker Johnson is a social conservative and has pushed for cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, including plans to roll back Medicaid expansion in 2019. The Speaker has said he intends for the House to take up as many FY 2024 spending bills as possible [...]

iqtsupport2023-10-26T15:51:16-04:00October 26, 2023|340b, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Congress, Medicaid, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid DSH allotments, Medicare, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

Medicaid Unwinding Continues

States continue to work on redetermining Medicaid eligibility for those who were enrolled in the program during the period of continuous eligibility that extended through the COVID-19 public health emergency and ended on March 31. Six months into what has come to be known as Medicaid unwinding, approximately 30 percent of the 95 million people enrolled in the program when the unwinding process officially began have now had their eligibility reviewed. Among them, 16 million have seen their eligibility renewed while 8.8 million have been disenrolled from the program. The numbers vary considerably from state to state, with different states [...]

iqtsupport2023-10-26T06:00:16-04:00October 26, 2023|Medicaid|

Telehealth May Help Medicaid Patients With Opioid-Related Addictions

When access to buprenorphine treatment became available to Medicaid beneficiaries in response to the COVID-19 crisis, patients who obtained such treatment via telehealth were more likely to remain under treatment for their disorder than those who received similar care through physician offices. This new finding, reported in the JAMA Network, suggests that prescribing buprenorphine treatment through telehealth may be beneficial to patients and should remain an option for patients and providers after the COVID-19-inspired policy, extended after the formal end of the public health emergency, expires at the end of 2024, as currently scheduled. While the study found that patients [...]

iqtsupport2023-10-25T06:00:28-04:00October 25, 2023|Medicaid, Telehealth|

“Rural Emergency Hospital” Status: To Be or Not to Be?

That is the question for many of the country’s small rural hospitals, including the more than 600 that are thought to be in danger of closing in the near future. In 2020 Congress directed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to introduce the Rural Emergency Hospital, a new Medicare provider type that would give additional federal funding to qualified rural hospitals in exchange for changes in how they do business. For small hospitals that are willing to discontinue providing inpatient services and cease participating in the 340B prescription drug discount program, CMS offers enhanced payments for outpatient services and [...]

iqtsupport2023-10-25T01:00:35-04:00October 25, 2023|hospitals, Medicare, Medicare reimbursement policy|

MedPAC Outlines Plans for the Coming Year

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has shared its agenda for its 2023-2024 public meeting cycle. According to MedPAC, it will engage in its regular work of offering recommendations to Congress on the adequacy of Medicare payments to providers and, as needed, suggest changes in those payments. In addition, it will fulfill two statutory requirements in the coming year: to evaluate Medicare Advantage special needs plans for individuals eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid and to review the new “Rural Emergency Hospital” designation. In addition, MedPAC writes that We are working on several other issues in the Medicare program as well, [...]

iqtsupport2023-10-24T16:43:49-04:00October 24, 2023|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Congress, Medicare, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, Telehealth|

Federal Health Policy Update for October 19

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for October 13-19. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress At this moment there is still no Speaker of the House of Representatives. After 20 and then 22 House Republicans voted against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, Mr. Jordan has joined others, including senior Democrats, in supporting a plan to expand the powers of the temporary speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC). Mr. Jordan remains the speaker designee, an option that will enable him to continue to seek [...]

iqtsupport2023-10-19T15:01:13-04:00October 19, 2023|Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, COVID-19, health equity, hospitals, Medicaid, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid DSH allotments, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy, Telehealth|

Nursing Shortage? Says Who?

Hospitals say there is a major shortage of nurses in the U.S. Nursing groups say there are plenty of nurses – just not enough nurses willing to work in hospitals under current conditions. Others believe the problem is not so much a shortage of nurses as it is a shortage of nursing where nursing is needed. Whether there really is a shortage of nurses, and how to address it, if there is one, depends in large part on the answer to that question. Learn more about the different perspectives on this question from the Stat article “Is there a nursing [...]

iqtsupport2023-10-19T06:00:40-04:00October 19, 2023|hospitals|

Federal Health Policy Update for October 12

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for October 6-12. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. No Surprises Act CMS has reopened the federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) portal for the initiation ofnew single disputes, including single disputes involving bundled payment arrangements, but parties still cannot initiate new disputes involving air ambulance services and batched disputes for air ambulance and non-air ambulance items and services. IDR portal functionalities related to previously initiated batched disputes also are unavailable. Learn more about this action from this CMS announcement, which includes an [...]

iqtsupport2023-10-12T14:42:15-04:00October 12, 2023|COVID-19, health equity, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, social determinants of health, Telehealth|

MedPAC Meets

The members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission held their latest public meeting last week. The issues addressed during the meeting were: Current legal updates to Medicare’s payment rates for clinician services. Staffing ratios and turnover rates in nursing facilities. An alternative method to establish Medicare payments for selected conditions treated in inpatient rehabilitation facilities. A staff work plan for examining prices of generic drugs under Part D For an overview of each of these issues and links to the presentations made by MedPAC’s staff during the discussions, go here.

iqtsupport2023-10-12T13:00:04-04:00October 12, 2023|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, post-acute care|

Survey Looks at Work of Hospital Equity Officers

With more and more hospitals hiring equity officers to lead their efforts to address social determinants of health and the health care disparities that often result, a new survey examines the obstacles those health equity officials are encountering in their work. The survey and follow-up interviews of some of the respondents explore the degree of support the health equity officers believe they have from different officials throughout their hospitals and health systems, the obstacles they have encountered, the differences expressed by respondents based on the type of hospital in which they work, and the limits of pursuing their objectives strictly [...]

iqtsupport2023-10-12T06:00:09-04:00October 12, 2023|health equity, social determinants of health|