Medicare hospital payments

Federal Health Policy Update for January 12

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for January 6-12. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Renewal of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has signed an order extending the previous declaration of a COVID-19 public health emergency. This declaration extends the emergency to April 11. The administration continues to assure stakeholders it will provide 60 days’ notice prior to the end of the public health emergency. MedPAC Medicare Rate Recommendations Every year MedPAC recommends to Congress rate increases for the different kinds of health care [...]

iqtsupport2023-01-12T19:22:04-05:00January 12, 2023|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, COVID-19, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare disproportionate share, Medicare DSH, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, Telehealth|

Federal Health Policy Update for December 15

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for the week of December 12-15. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. White House The White House has unveiled its “COVID-19 Winter Preparedness Plan,” the major components of which are expanding easy access to free COVID-19 testing options in the winter; making vaccinations and treatments readily available as cases rise; preparing personnel and resources; and focusing on protecting the highest-risk Americans. Learn more about the plan from this White House fact sheet and go here for a transcript of the White House [...]

MedPAC Makes 2023 Medicare Payment Recommendations

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has released its March 2022 Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy. The report includes MedPAC’s recommendations for Medicare payments in 2023. For the coming year, MedPAC recommends the following changes in Medicare fee-for-service payments: hospital inpatient payments – increase 2.5% hospital outpatient payments – increase 2.0% long-term care hospital payments – increase approximately 2.0% outpatient dialysis payments – increase 1.2% physician, ambulatory surgical center, and hospice payments – no change skilled nursing facility, home health, and inpatient rehabilitation facility payments – reduce 5.0% The report also reviews the status of Medicare Advantage and the [...]

iqtsupport2022-03-21T06:00:52-04:00March 21, 2022|Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. The issues on MedPAC’s January agenda were: The Medicare prescription drug program (Part D): status report and options for restructuring Redesigning the Medicare Advantage quality program: initial modeling of a value incentive program Hospital inpatient and outpatient payments Physician payments Outpatient dialysis payments Skilled nursing facility, home health, inpatient rehabilitation facility, and long-term-care hospital payments Hospice and ambulatory surgery center payments The 340B program ACO beneficiary assignment MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises Congress on issues involving the Medicare program. [...]

iqtsupport2020-01-22T06:00:06-05:00January 22, 2020|Accountable Care Organization, ACO, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. last week. Among the issues on the agenda of the independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues were: payment adequacy for physicians and other health professional services An alternative to the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) payment adequacy for hospital inpatient and outpatient services payment adequacy for ambulatory surgical center services payment adequacy and improving the equity of payments for skilled nursing facility services payment adequacy for inpatient rehabilitation services payment adequacy for long-term-care hospital services payment adequacy for home health services payment adequacy for outpatient dialysis services payment [...]

iqtsupport2017-12-13T06:00:25-05:00December 13, 2017|hospitals, Medicare, MedPAC|

MedPAC Testifies Before Congress

Last week Mark Miller, executive director of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee’s Health Subcommittee. In his testimony, Miller summarized and explained some of the key points MedPAC made in its March report to Congress, including: why MedPAC believes most post-acute-care payments are too high; why Medicare needs to reduce the incentives for hospitals and doctors to deliver more services; why it recommended no FY 2018 payment increases for long-term acute-care hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and skilled nursing facilities and reductions of payments for home health care providers and inpatient rehabilitation facilities; why [...]

iqtsupport2017-05-22T06:00:12-04:00May 22, 2017|hospitals, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues met for two days in Washington, D.C. Among the issues on the agenda of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission were: payments for hospital inpatient and outpatient services, ambulatory surgery centers, dialysis facilities, and hospice care payments for post-acute-care providers a unified payment system for post-acute-care services Medicare Advantage Medicare Part B and Part D payments Medicare-covered primary care services implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 Go here for links to the issue briefs and presentations used at the MedPAC meeting and for a [...]

iqtsupport2017-01-19T06:00:38-05:00January 19, 2017|hospitals, Medicare, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|