CMS Axes 340B Model
Following two defeats in federal court, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has ended its 2025 attempt to launch its 340B Rebate Model Pilot Program. The program, which would have introduced a new approach to the 340B prescription drug [...]
Docs Not Always Caring for Medicaid Patients
More than a quarter of all doctors enrolled to serve Medicaid patients in 2021 did not serve any Medicaid patients at all while another ten percent treated fewer than 10 Medicaid patients, according to a new Health Affairs study. Among [...]
Non-Profit Hospitals Face Near-Term Challenges
The end of Affordable Care Act enhanced health insurance premiums will pose a financial challenge for many of the nation’s non-profit hospitals. The challenge to hospitals will be greatest in states that did not take advantage of Affordable Care Act [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for February 5
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for January 30 through February 5. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress On Tuesday Congress passed, and the president immediately signed, [...]
Demise of Enhanced Tax Credits Drives Lower ACA Plan Enrollment
The end of enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans has led to a five percent decrease in the number of people who enrolled in ACA plans during the open enrollment period that ended on January 15. [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for January 29
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for January 23-29. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress The Senate today failed to advance a package of the remaining six FY [...]
Providers Continue to Dominate Fee Dispute Resolution
Health care providers won the vast majority of the fee disputes adjudicated through the No Surprises Act’s Independent Dispute Resolution process during the first half of 2025. The volume of those disputes submitted to arbitration rose nearly 40 percent over [...]
Erosion of Rural Maternity Care Continues
At a rate of more than two a month since the end of 2020, rural hospitals have closed or announced that they will be closing their maternity units – 124 in all by the end of 2026. As a result, [...]
Federal Health Policy Update for January 22
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for January 16-22. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. ASH Advocacy In a letter to House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders, ASH [...]
ASH Urges Congressional Leaders to Support Health Care Extenders
In a letter to House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders, the Alliance of Safety-Net Hospitals has urged those officials to support passage of the health care “extenders” included in the recently proposed FY 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act. Specifically, ASH encouraged [...]
