Policy Updates

2019 Change in Public Charge Rule to Disappear

Shortly after taking office the Biden administration stopped enforcing 2019 changes in the so-called public charge rule and now the Supreme Court has agreed to a Justice Department request to dismiss an upcoming case challenging that rule. The public charge rule, as updated in 2019, calls for all legal immigrants enrolled in Medicaid and certain other safety-net programs to be designated public charges and denied access to permanent U.S. residency and green card status. Hospitals feared that the revised rule would have a chilling effect on the willingness of some legal citizens and legal non-citizens to seek out government health [...]

iqtsupport2021-03-16T06:00:01-04:00March 16, 2021|Medicaid|

Coronavirus Update for Friday, March 12

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 12. White House President Biden announced his administration’s objective of making every American eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine by May 1. See a fact sheet about the announcement. The White House has posted a transcript of the March 12 press briefing provided by its COVID-19 response team and public health officials. President Biden will nominate Melanie Egorin to serve as HHS’s Assistant Secretary for Legislation. Department of Health and Human Services HHS announced that an additional 700 health centers supported by the [...]

iqtsupport2021-03-15T06:00:48-04:00March 15, 2021|Coronavirus, COVID-19|

Coronavirus Update for Thursday, March 11

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Thursday, March 11. White House The White House has posted a transcript of the March 10 press briefing provided by its COVID-19 response team and public health officials. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has updated its guidance on nursing home visitation, easing current restrictions. According to the updated guidance, facilities should permit responsible indoor visitation at all times and for all residents, regardless of vaccination status of the resident or visitor, except under specific, defined circumstances. The updated guidance also emphasizes that “compassionate [...]

iqtsupport2021-03-12T06:00:04-05:00March 12, 2021|Coronavirus, COVID-19|

Too Many Medicare APMs?

MedPAC thinks maybe that’s the case. At the recent meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the agency’s commissioners suggested that they may recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reduce its assortment of alternative payment model programs. As reported by MedPage Today, a draft of MedPAC’s June report to Congress states that The [Health and Human Services] Secretary should implement a more coordinated portfolio of fewer alternative payment models (APMs) that support the strategic objectives of reducing spending and improving quality. In recent years CMS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has tested 54 different APMs; few [...]

iqtsupport2021-03-11T06:00:58-05:00March 11, 2021|Alternative payment models, MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. last week to discuss various Medicare payment issues. Among the issues discussed at MedPAC’s March meeting were: Medicare beneficiary access to care in rural areas skilled nursing facility value-based purchasing program and proposed replacement streamlining CMS’s portfolio of alternative payment models balancing efficiency with equity in Medicare Advantage benchmark policy relationship between clinician services and other Medicare services revising Medicare’s indirect medical education payments to better reflect teaching hospitals’ costs Medicare’s vaccine coverage and payment separately payable drugs in the hospital outpatient prospective payment system MedPAC is an independent congressional agency [...]

iqtsupport2021-03-10T06:00:08-05:00March 10, 2021|Medicare, MedPAC|

Analysts Look at Medicare Wage System

The Congressional Research Service has published a new report on the Medicare hospital wage index system. The agency undertook its analysis because Some Members of Congress, hospitals, and independent analysts have expressed interest in the differences in Medicare hospital payments by geographic area, based on the wage index. Some of these stakeholders have recommended changes to the wage index to more accurately reflect labor market forces faced by hospitals. Although some modifications to the wage index have been implemented, there is no consensus about systematic reforms. In the report the CRS describes how the geographic wage system works and what [...]

iqtsupport2021-03-09T06:00:24-05:00March 9, 2021|Medicare, Medicare reimbursement policy|

Coronavirus Update for Monday, March 8

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Monday, March 8. New CDC Guidance for Fully Vaccinated People The CDC has issued new guidance on how people who are fully vaccinated can interact safely with others, including those who have and those who have not been vaccinated. Learn more from the following resources: the CDC’s news release announcing the new guidance the new guidance itself the scientific rationale for the CDC’s guidance additional background information for fully vaccinated people on how to protect themselves and others White House The White House [...]

iqtsupport2021-03-09T06:00:21-05:00March 9, 2021|Coronavirus, COVID-19|

Coronavirus Update for Friday, March 5

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Friday, March 5. White House The White House has posted a transcript of the March 3 press briefing provided by its COVID-19 response team and public health officials. The White House has announced two new members of its COVID response team: Charles Anderson – director of economic policy and budget Sam Berger – director of strategic operations and policy Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has established Medicare codes for billing for the Janssen Biotech COVID-19 vaccine (the Johnson & Johnson vaccine). [...]

iqtsupport2021-03-08T06:00:47-05:00March 8, 2021|Coronavirus, COVID-19|

MACPAC Looks at Recipients of Provider Relief Fund Grants

What kinds of providers did and did not receive grants from the CARES Act’s Provider Relief Fund? What were the obstacles to receiving those COVID-19 relief grants and why did some providers fare better in the distribution of Provider Relief Fund resources than others? These questions and more are addressed in “COVID Relief Funding for Medicaid Providers,” a new analysis released by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission.

iqtsupport2021-03-05T06:00:44-05:00March 5, 2021|MACPAC, Medicaid|

Bundled Payments Produce Savings Among Privately Insured

Bundled payments for a limited number of surgical procedures produced a savings of 10.7 percent among privately insured patients according to a study by the RAND Corporation. For the study, participants working for self-insured employers who received three types of surgery – total knee and hip replacement, spinal fusion, and bariatric weight-loss procedures – were offered the opportunity to have those procedures without cost-sharing in exchange for undergoing surgery by specific providers that agreed to accept a bundled payment for the procedure and 30 days of post-surgical care. The result was a savings of 10.7 percent in costs, 85 percent [...]

iqtsupport2021-03-04T06:00:43-05:00March 4, 2021|Uncategorized|