MedPAC Meets
Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. Among the issues on MedPAC’s March agenda were: options for slowing the growth of Medicare fee-for-service spending for emergency department service [...]
Surprise Medical Bills Lead Patients to Change Hospitals
Patients who receive surprise medical bills are more likely to change hospitals than those who do not, a new study has found. According to an analysis of behavior by obstetrics patients, …11 percent of mothers experienced a surprise out-of-network bill with [...]
Stark Changes Coming to Facilitate Value Care?
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 [...]
800 Hospitals Face Medicare Penalties
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 [...]
NASH Introduces New Name
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 [...]
Safety-Net Hospitals Struggle in Medicare Joint Replacement Model
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 [...]
Hospital Groups Join NASH in Calling for Delay of Medicaid DSH Cuts
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 [...]
States Taking Different Paths to Pay for Medicaid Expansion
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 [...]
Health Care Lobbying Rose in 2018
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 [...]
Protections Overlooked as Medicaid Reforms are Implemented
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 [...]
