Policy Updates

Coronavirus Update for Monday, November 30

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Monday, November 30. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has expanded its March program “Hospitals Without Walls,” which provided broad regulatory flexibility that permitted hospitals to provide services in locations beyond their existing walls, by establishing a new “Acute Hospital Care At Home program” that expands those regulatory flexibilities so hospitals may treat eligible patients in their homes. The CMS news release announcing the program expansion explains that the agency believes that … treatment for more than 60 different acute conditions, such as [...]

iqtsupport2020-12-01T06:00:47-05:00December 1, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19|

Insurers Owe Customers Billions

Low medical loss ratios will compel insurers to return nearly $2.5 billion to their customers for the 2019 reporting year. Under federal law, individual and small group insurers must spend 80 percent of their premium revenue on health care services and large group insures must spend 85 percent. If they fail to do so they must return the difference to their enrollees, whether individuals, employers, or a combination of the two. In all, insurers owe nearly $2.5 billion – the most ever in a single year – to more than 11 million customers. Rebates can be paid as premium credit [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-30T06:00:49-05:00November 30, 2020|Uncategorized|

New Treatments Haven’t Yet Reduced COVID-19 Death Rate

The development of new therapeutics in recent months has not yet translated into a reduced death rate for patients with COVID-19. In the spring the death rate was five to six percent, a rate attributed to limited testing. Since testing became more widely available during the summer, however, the death rate has fallen to approximately 1.7 percent but has remained at that level despite the introduction of new ways to treat COVID-19. Learn more about the new treatments, their impact on care, and the prospects for their eventual impact on COVID-19 death rates in the Washington Post article “Coronavirus survival [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-30T06:00:27-05:00November 30, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19|

Coronavirus Update for November 24, 2020

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 24. Provider Relief Fund The Provider Relief Fund web page has been updated with the following notice: The application deadline for the Provider Relief Fund Phase 3 General Distribution was Nov. 6, 2020. You must have submitted your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) for validation by 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 6, 2020 for Phase 3 relief funds. If you submitted your TIN for validation by the deadline and your TIN is validated by Nov. 13, you will be able to proceed with [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-25T06:00:56-05:00November 25, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19|

Coronavirus Update for Thursday, November 19

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 19. Provider Relief Fund The Provider Relief Fund web page has been updated with the following notice: The application deadline for the Provider Relief Fund Phase 3 General Distribution was Nov. 6, 2020. You must have submitted your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) for validation by 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 6, 2020 for Phase 3 relief funds. If you submitted your TIN for validation by the deadline and your TIN is validated by Nov. 13, you will be able to proceed with [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-20T06:00:44-05:00November 20, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19|

Coronavirus Update for Tuesday, November 17

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17. Provider Relief Fund The Provider Relief Fund web page has been updated with the following notice: The application deadline for the Provider Relief Fund Phase 3 General Distribution was Nov. 6, 2020. You must have submitted your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) for validation by 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 6, 2020 for Phase 3 relief funds. If you submitted your TIN for validation by the deadline and your TIN is validated by Nov. 13, you will be able to proceed with [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-18T06:00:46-05:00November 18, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19|

Recession Taking its Toll on States

State Medicaid programs are feeling the effects of the current recession, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service. According to the brief report, state Medicaid enrollment and costs have risen since the COVID-19 pandemic began and states expect them to continue rising into their 2021 fiscal years. State efforts to reduce spending are limited by provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which provided additional federal Medicaid matching funds to the states to assist them with their Medicaid costs during the COVID-19 pandemic but impose maintenance-of-effort requirements in exchange for continued state access to the enhanced [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-17T06:00:33-05:00November 17, 2020|Congress, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medicaid|

Coronavirus Update for Thursday, November 12

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Thursday, November 12. Department of Health and Human Services HHS is hosting a on webinar Friday, November 13 at 1:00 p.m. (eastern) to present updated guidance for hospital data reporting requirements. Go here to register. Also available are a slide deck that will be presented by the subject matter experts during the webinar and a Q&A document with questions that were not addressed during previous webinars. HHS’s Office of the Inspector General has released its preparedness audit findings for the Office of Refugee Resettlement [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-13T08:56:10-05:00November 13, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19|

MedPAC Meets

Earlier this week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. Among the issues on MedPAC’s November agenda were: expansion of telehealth in Medicare report on Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care in rural areas effects of pharmaceutical rebates on Part D’s risk adjustment improving competition among Medicare Part D’s benchmark plans separately payable drugs in the hospital outpatient prospective payment system Medicare Advantage payment and access for enrollees with end-stage renal disease MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises Congress on issues involving the Medicare program. While its recommendations are [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-12T06:00:40-05:00November 12, 2020|Medicare, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy|

Coronavirus Update for Tuesday, November 10

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10. Food and Drug Administration The FDA has issued emergency use authorization (EUA) for the investigational monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adult and pediatric patients. In issuing this EUA, the FDA noted that “While the safety and effectiveness of this investigational therapy continues to be evaluated, bamlanivimab was shown in clinical trials to reduce COVID-19-related hospitalization or emergency room visits in patients at high risk for disease progression within 28 days after treatment when compared to [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-11T06:00:57-05:00November 11, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19|