Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation

Federal Health Policy Update for Wednesday, January 19

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday, January 19. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Public Health Emergency Declaration Renewed HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has renewed his department’s declaration of a public health emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The renewal took effect on January 16 and extends the declaration for three months. Find the declaration here. Free COVID-19 Tests and Masks Upon request, the federal government is now providing four free monthly home COVID-19 tests to every household. Order those tests [...]

iqtsupport2022-01-19T17:47:33-05:00January 19, 2022|Affordable Care Act, Alternative payment models, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, Coronavirus, COVID-19, MACPAC, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy|

Federal Health Policy Update for Monday, November 15

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Monday, November 15. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. The White House The White House has posted a transcript of the November 10 press briefing given by its COVID-19 response team and public officials. Go here for the slides presented during that briefing. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – Final Guidance on Shared/Co-Located Hospital Spaces In a memo to state survey agencies, CMS has published final guidance for the evaluation of compliance with the Medicare Conditions [...]

iqtsupport2021-11-15T17:19:23-05:00November 15, 2021|Accountable Care Organization, ACO, Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicare reimbursement policy|

Federal Health Policy Update for Wednesday, November 10

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday, November 10. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. The White House The White House announced that it will spend $785 million in American Rescue Plan funding to support community-based organizations building vaccine confidence across communities of color, rural areas, and low-income populations; bolster the efforts of Tribal communities leading the way in mitigating the spread of the virus; expand public health systems’ ability to respond to the needs of people with disabilities and older adults who [...]

iqtsupport2021-11-10T17:30:36-05:00November 10, 2021|Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, Coronavirus, COVID-19, MACPAC|

Federal Health Policy Update for Monday, October 25

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Monday, October 25. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Provider Relief Fund: Deadline for Submission is Tuesday, October 26 The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will accept applications for $25.5 billion in health care relief funds until October 26. Go here for further information. HRSA has modified some of the terms for applying for assistance. All applicants must complete the first step of the application process (i.e., submitting their Tax Identification Number (TIN) and associated information [...]

iqtsupport2021-10-25T17:14:51-04:00October 25, 2021|Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

Innovation Center Unveils Blueprint

The CMS Innovation Center has published a document that shares its strategic direction for the coming years. Driving Health System Transformation – A Strategy for the CMS Innovation Center’s Second Decade reviews the lessons the agency has learned over the past ten years and lays out its objectives for the next ten: Drive Accountable Care – increase the number of people in a care relationship for quality and total cost of care. Advance Health Equity – embed health equity in every aspect of CMS Innovation Center models and increase focus on underserved populations. Support Care Innovation – leverage a range [...]

iqtsupport2021-10-21T13:00:01-04:00October 21, 2021|Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, CMMI|

Changes Coming in Innovation Center Payment Models

Future Medicare payment models will probably feature less risk for participants and a greater emphasis on health equity. At least that is the vision shared by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services chief operating officer Jon Blum during a recent conference. While not backing away from including risk in future value-based purchasing models, CMS and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center will probably propose fewer full-risk models, which the agency fears favor wealthier providers that can afford to shoulder more risk to begin with, and a greater focus on reporting race and ethnicity data among future model participants [...]

iqtsupport2021-10-05T06:00:24-04:00October 5, 2021|Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, CMMI|

New Health Care Leaders Share Priorities

New leaders at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation are quickly making their priorities known to health care industry stakeholders. For new CMS administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, her priority is coverage. She has declared that “Our focus is going to be on making sure regulations and policies are going to be focused on improving coverage,” and while she hopes that states that have not yet expanded their Medicaid programs will take advantage of current federal incentives to do so, there is another path to coverage: “…the public option or other coverage certainly [...]

iqtsupport2021-06-10T06:00:44-04:00June 10, 2021|Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid|

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|

“Oh Say Can We See?”: Ways & Means Leaders Seek CMMI Transparency

The chairman and ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee have written to CMS administrator Seema Verma to ask her to address the lack of transparency in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. In the bipartisan letter, committee chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) and ranking member Kevin Brady (R-TX) note that “…Congress established CMMI to test different innovative delivery system and payment models to improve quality and reduce costs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries” but observe that “…significant policy changes made unilaterally by the executive branch without sufficient transparency could yield unintended negative consequences for beneficiaries and the [...]

iqtsupport2019-01-18T06:00:19-05:00January 18, 2019|Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation|

Administration Moving Away From Value Pay?

First, new Medicare programs for lump-sums payments for cardiac care and joint replacements were scaled back. Then, additional doctors were exempted from a new payment system that would have paid them more for the results they produce than for the quantity of care they provide. Next, the Department of Health and Human Services presented a document outlining a new direction for its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. And it announced that it was seeking input from doctors on payment policy. All suggest that if the Trump administration is not moving away for paying for quality rather than quantity it [...]

iqtsupport2017-11-15T06:00:55-05:00November 15, 2017|Medicare|