telehealth

Federal Health Policy Update for November 7

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for November 1-7. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Medicare Payment Regulations Late last week CMS published four regulations describing how Medicare will pay certain providers in 2025. The following is a brief overview of those regulations. Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System Rate increase of 2.9 percent for outpatient and ambulatory surgical center services. New Conditions of Participation for obstetrical services. Additional payments for selected non-opioid treatments for pain relief. Minor modifications of the inpatient-only list. A change in the review time [...]

joe2024-11-07T16:26:47-05:00November 7, 2024|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, health equity, hospitals, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, Telehealth|

Federal Health Policy Update for October 24

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for October 18-24. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has issued new guidance outlining regulatory requirements for hospitals to report specific data on COVID-19, flu, and RSV. The new weekly electronic reporting requirements will apply to short-term acute-care hospitals, long-term-care hospitals, critical access hospitals, Indian Health Service hospitals, children’s hospitals, and cancer hospitals, with other types of hospitals – psychiatric hospitals and distinct part units and inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and distinct part units – subject [...]

joe2024-10-24T14:58:32-04:00October 24, 2024|Affordable Care Act, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, COVID-19, hospitals, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, post-acute care, Telehealth|

Clock Ticking on Some Telehealth Prescribing?

The COVID-inspired flexibility to prescribe some medicines via telehealth will soon expire – and it is not clear whether the practice will be extended. While there is general support for telehealth prescribing, policymakers appear to be divided over whether to permit continued use of telehealth to prescribe Schedule 2 drugs such as Adderall. The next step in clearing the path to extending the flexibility was supposed to be a proposed regulation from the Drug Enforcement Agency. The DEA has submitted a draft to the Office of Management and Budget for review but published reports suggest that the Department of Health [...]

joe2024-09-11T12:32:44-04:00September 12, 2024|Telehealth|

Telehealth Gains in Jeopardy?

The ability of doctors to use telehealth to prescribe medicines like buprenorphine for patients with opioid use disorder may be in jeopardy. While COVID-19 inspired an expanded use for caring for patients using telehealth, the regulatory flexibility that made remote prescribing possible expires at the end of 2024 and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency appears reluctant to call for its extension without modification. In particular, an unreleased DEA proposal reportedly would limit individual physicians to issuing no more than half of their prescriptions virtually. Some people think this would detract from the overall effectiveness of telehealth in treating opioid use [...]

joe2024-09-03T17:44:07-04:00September 4, 2024|Telehealth|

Federal Health Policy Update for August 22

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for August 16-22. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. The Courts The federal government must include uninsured patients whom hospitals serve under state Medicaid waivers when calculating hospitals’ Medicare DSH payments, a federal court has ruled. In the case of Baylor All Saints Medical Center, et al. v. Xavier Becerra, federal policymakers had invoked a 2023 regulation that excluded counting care provided to patients served by DSH-eligible hospitals providing care through state Medicaid waivers – generally, through uncompensated care pools. A group [...]

joe2024-08-22T15:11:48-04:00August 22, 2024|Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, hospitals, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicare disproportionate share, Medicare DSH, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, Telehealth|

Federal Health Policy Update for August 8

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for August 3-8. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. No Surprises Act A federal appeals court has upheld a February lower court ruling that found that the current No Surprises Act’s arbitration process for addressing payment disagreements between payers and providers favored payers by giving too much weight to “qualifying payment amounts,” which are the median of what insurers contract to pay providers in a given geographic area. Learn more from the appeals court’s decision in the case. Department of Health and [...]

joe2024-08-08T15:01:05-04:00August 8, 2024|340b, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, hospitals, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicare, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, social determinants of health, Telehealth|

Federal Health Policy Update for March 14

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for March 8-14. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. The White House The Biden administration this week released its proposed FY 2025 federal budget. Health care highlights include: Making permanent the expanded health care premium tax credits introduced to make health insurance marketplace plans more affordable for middle-class Americans. Extension of coverage similar to Medicaid to residents of the 10 states that have not taken advantage of the Affordable Care Act opportunity to expand their Medicaid programs. Permission for states to extend [...]

joe2024-03-14T20:46:56-04:00March 14, 2024|Affordable Care Act, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Congress, hospitals, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicare, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, Telehealth|

Federal Health Policy Update for January 11

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for January 5 - 11. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS will establish 200 new Medicare-funded residency slots in FY 2025. Learn more about the additional slots here and find information about how to apply for those slots here. The deadline for applications is March 31. CMS released guidance for Medicare Part D plans that describes coverage and processing claims for COVID-19 therapeutics. Medicare Part D plans must cover commercially available oral antivirals for COVID-19 [...]

joe2024-01-11T21:27:47-05:00January 11, 2024|hospitals, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare reimbursement policy, Telehealth|

Senate Looks at Telehealth in Medicare

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing this week on “Ensuring Medicare Beneficiary Access: A Path to Telehealth Permanency.” Go here for a video of the hearing and here for links to the testimony submitted to the committee.

iqtsupport2023-11-16T06:00:47-05:00November 16, 2023|Medicare, Telehealth|

Bill Would Halt Medicaid DSH Cuts, Bring Other Changes

A wide-ranging bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee would eliminate $16 billion in Medicaid disproportionate share (Medicaid DSH) payments over the next two years. The Better Mental Health Care, Lower-Cost Drugs, and Extenders Act, passed by the committee with unanimous, bipartisan support, also seeks to improve access to mental health care for Medicare patients living in rural and underserved areas; improve access to behavioral health services via telehealth for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries; reduce some of the recently adopted cuts in Medicare payments to physicians that will take effect in 2024; toughen federal regulations governing pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs); [...]

iqtsupport2023-11-15T13:00:58-05:00November 15, 2023|Congress, Medicaid, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH, Medicare reimbursement policy, Telehealth|