HHS Transition Briefing Book Available
Prior to last November’s election, leadership at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services prepared briefing materials for the transition staff of the winning candidate. That briefing book, HHS Presidential Transition Agency Landing Team Book, provides background material that [...]
ACA Replacement?
While both the Trump administration and Congress insist that they will repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, neither has yet provided information about what that replacement might look like. But one place worth looking for a possible glimpse into [...]
Implications of ACA Repeal for Medicaid
How might repeal of the Affordable Care Act affect Medicaid? Medicaid beneficiaries? States and providers? Because they care for so many Medicaid patients, including many who enrolled in Medicaid as a result of the Affordable Care Act, the answers to [...]
MedPAC Meets
Last week the independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues met for two days in Washington, D.C. Among the issues on the agenda of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission were: payments for hospital inpatient and outpatient services, ambulatory [...]
Urban Hospitals in ACOS Better at Reducing Some Readmissions Rates
A new study has found that hospitals located in metropolitan areas that participate in accountable care organizations are doing a better job than other hospitals of reducing 30-day readmissions rates for Medicare patients who originally were discharged into skilled nursing [...]
ACOs Serving High Proportions of Racial and Ethnic Minorities Lag in Quality Performance
Accountable care organizations that serve large numbers of minority patients score lower on Medicare quality measures than other ACOs, a new study has found. According to the study, ACOs serving larger numbers of minority patients perform worse than other ACOs [...]
Bundled Payments Reduce Hip, Knee Replacement Costs
Medicare’s bundled payment program for knee and hip replacements is reducing the cost of such treatments, a study has found. According to a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine, the Medicare bundled payment program, known as the Comprehensive Care for Joint [...]
Academies Completes Work on Social Risk Factors in Health Care
Completing its assignment from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine has published its fifth and final report on social risk factors that affect health [...]
Weighing the Impact of ACA Repeal
How might repeal of the Affordable Care Act affect the financial health of different kinds of hospitals? The New York Times recently took a look at how the 2010 reform law’s repeal would affect two Pennsylvania health systems: the Temple [...]
Medicaid Directors Comment on Proposed Medicaid Pass-Through Regulation
Last November the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed a new regulation governing the use of pass-through payments in state Medicaid managed care programs. The National Association of Medicaid Directors submitted formal comments to CMS about that proposed regulation. [...]
