At a Washington, D.C. conference, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma announced that changes coming in Stark law requirements will enable Medicare to make better use of value-based purchasing in its reimbursement system. In addition to addressing cybersecurity and electronic health record system issues, changes in the anti-self-referral law will seek to […]
800 hospitals will see their Medicare payments reduced one percent this year because they are among the 25 percent of hospitals in the U.S. with the highest rate of hospital-acquired conditions. Among the 800 hospitals are 110 that are being penalized for the fifth year in a row. Medicare’s hospital-acquired condition reduction program tracks a […]
In a news release issued earlier this week, the National Alliance of Safety-Net Hospitals introduced its new name. The news release also outlines the reasons for the group’s evolution from the National Association of Urban Critical Access Hospitals to the National Association of Urban Hospitals to the National Alliance of Safety-Net Hospitals, defines what constitutes […]
Non-safety-net hospitals are outperforming safety-net hospitals in the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model introduced in 2016. According to a new study published in Health Affairs, …in comparison to non-safety-net hospitals, 42 percent fewer safety-net hospitals qualified for rewards based on their quality and spending performance (33 percent of safety-net hospitals qualified, compared to 57 percent of non-safety-net […]
Seven hospital trade groups have written to congressional leaders asking them to delay Affordable Care Act-mandated cuts in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments (Medicaid DSH) that are scheduled to take effect in October of this year. Their letter echoes a long-time advocacy priority of the National Alliance of Safety-Net Hospitals. In their letter the groups, […]
With the federal share of Medicaid expansion falling to 90 percent next year, states that expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act are now exploring new ways to raise the money to pay for the 10 percent for which they will soon by responsible. Some are implementing hospital or insurer taxes while others […]
Hospitals and health systems spent $99.7 million lobbying in Washington, D.C. last year, just barely more than in 2017 but much less than in 2009, when the focus of health care lobbying was the Affordable Care Act, then just a proposal and not a law. The issues on which they spent the most money lobbying […]
In its eagerness to help states introduce changes in their Medicaid programs and reduce administrative burdens, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is ignoring regulatory requirements designed to understand and measure the impact of those changes on beneficiaries. According to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times, many states seeking to implement Medicaid work […]
For the past dozen years, Medicare and Medicaid have done a better job of controlling rising health care costs than private insurers. Since 2016, according to a new report from the Urban Institute, private insurers’ costs per enrolled member have risen an average of 4.4 percent a year. By contrast, Medicare costs have risen an […]
The process the federal government is employing to audit the uncompensated care costs that hospitals report to Medicare is plagued with problems, the National Alliance of Safety-Net Hospitals has written in a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Those problems could result in reduced Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments (Medicare DSH) to […]