Federal Health Policy Update for August 27
Don’t Miss: Homeland Security proposes new six-figure H-1B visa fee CMS announces refinement of critical access hospital status evaluation HHS seeks feedback on relative of childhood vaccines The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for [...]
Proposed Visa Fee Brings Mixed News for Health Care Interests
The Department of Homeland Security’s proposed $103,265 fee for all H-1B cap-subject visa petitions is good news for some health care organizations and not-so-good news for others – and the communities they serve. Under the proposal, the additional fee would [...]
The Implications of New Limits on Medicaid Provider Taxes
Last year’s federal budget reconciliation law, in addition to introducing nearly a trillion dollars in federal health care spending cuts over the next decade, took aim at a tool state governments consider vital in financing their Medicaid programs: provider taxes. [...]
Infants, Toddlers Increasingly Dependent on Public Health Insurance
A new study highlights the growing dependence of families on public health insurance programs – Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program – to pay for care for their infants and children. According to a new analysis by the Georgetown [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for August 20
Don’t Miss: Latest No Surprises Act/Independent Dispute Resolution news Dept of Homeland Security issues guidance on “public charge” The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for August 14-20. Some of the language used below is [...]
Analysis Puts Price Tag on Loss of Medicaid State Directed Payments
Thirty-seven states face the loss of significant federal Medicaid revenue depending on how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ultimately implements a provision in the 2025 reconciliation bill that called for new limits on so-called state directed payments – [...]
Non-Profit Hospitals Struggled in 2025, Moody’s Finds
The financial performance of non-profit hospitals weakened in 2025, according to Moody’s, the financial rating service company. According to Moody’s: Median operating margins fell from 1.3 percent in 2024 to 1.2 percent in 2025. Median operating income fell 13.3 percent. [...]
Mandatory Value-Based Programs Increase Hospital Costs
While policymakers continue to pursue mandatory Medicare value-based programs at least in part to help reduce taxpayers’ costs for Medicare, they may be robbing Peter to pay Paul. According to a new study, hospitals that participate in federally mandated Medicare [...]
Court Rejects No Surprises Act’s QPA Methodology
A federal appeals court has rejected how health care payers calculate their qualifying payment amount, or QPA, when addressing disputed payments under the No Surprises Act’s Independent Dispute Resolution process. The QPA is the central benchmark rate payers present to [...]
CMS Clarifies Upcoming IDR Changes
Earlier this year, the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury and the Office of Personnel Management published federal Independent Dispute Resolution operations final rules to improve the functioning of the No Surprises Act’s IDR process, which [...]
