Budget Reconciliation Explained
The Republican Congress may use the federal budget reconciliation process to repeal some aspects of the Affordable Care Act. But what is the budget reconciliation process and how does it work? Kaiser Health News has created a brief video, with an [...]
Cures Law Addresses Shortcomings in Readmissions Program
The 21st Century Cures Act passed last December includes a provision that addresses perceived inequities in Medicare’s readmissions reduction program. Those inequities centered around holding safety-net hospitals, thought to care for more medically and socially challenging patients than the typical [...]
Long-Awaited 340B Guidance Withdrawn
The long-awaited “guidance” that was expected to bring potentially major changes to the federal section 340B prescription drug discount program has been withdrawn by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration. The final guidance, based [...]
A New Approach to Treating the Underserved
Last month Congress passed the Expanding Capacity for Health Outcomes Act. The new law calls for the U.S. Department of Health and Human services to study a New Mexico project that employs distance learning to enhance the ability of the [...]
MACPAC Concerned About Prospect of Medicaid Block Grants
Members of the non-partisan legislative agency that advises Congress on Medicaid and CHIP issues expressed concern at their most recent meeting about the possibility of the federal government turning Medicaid into a block grant program. At their meeting in Washington, [...]
MACPAC Points to March Medicaid DSH Report to Congress
Required to report annually to Congress on the state of the Medicaid program, members of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission reviewed drafts of their proposed March report to Congress at the agency’s January meeting in Washington, D.C. [...]
Defining “Success” in Addressing Social Determinants of Health
With a growing number of programs designed to address the social determinants of individuals’ health care challenges, the question arises as to how to define “success” in those approaches. A recent article on the Health Affairs Blog addresses this question by illustrating [...]
MACPAC Meets, Discusses Medicaid DSH Issues
Last week the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met in Washington, D.C. to review aspects of its required March report to Congress and to address other Medicaid and CHIP issues. Included on the agenda of the meeting were: [...]
Medicaid Block Grants 101
Amid a great deal of speculation about the possibility of Congress and the new Trump administration turning Medicaid into a block grant program, Kaiser Health News has taken a step back to ask the question “What does this even mean?” Among the [...]
Participation in Alternate Payment Models Rises
In 2017 nearly 360,000 clinicians will participate in Medicare and Medicaid Alternative Payment Model programs sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS also reports that this year 570 accountable care organizations, including 131 that bear risk, will [...]
