CMS Shares Vision for Medicaid
Medicaid is about to undergo major changes, CMS administrator Seema Verma outlined in a news release yesterday and in a speech to state Medicaid directors. According to the news release, those changes include: re-establishing a state-federal partnership that Verma believes [...]
CMS Offers States New Medicaid Path for Opioid Treatment
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued new guidance to states advising them on how they can use section 1115 Medicaid waivers to improve access to treatment for Medicaid recipients struggling with opioid abuse problems. According to [...]
NAUH Asks House to Renew CHIP and Delay Medicaid DSH Cuts
In a message sent to every member of the House of Representatives, NAUH conveyed its support for key provisions in HR 3922, the Championing Healthy Kids Act. Those provisions include renewal of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and a [...]
CMS Announces Drive to Reduce Paperwork
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is launching a new “Meaningful Measures” initiative that will seek to reduce the regulatory burden on health care providers. According to a CMS news release, Meaningful Measures …will involve only assessing those core [...]
New Rules Facilitate Integration of Physical, Behavioral Care
New federal regulations are facilitating better integration of physical and behavioral health services for the Medicaid population. Two developments, in particular, are advancing this integration: the 2016 Medicare managed care rule and a 2016 rule implementing the Mental Health Parity [...]
AMA: Health Insurance Concentration in Urban Areas Threatens Competition
Too much market share by insurers in urban areas can inhibit competition, and according to the American Medical Association, there is too little competition among insurers in too many urban markets today. According to a new AMA study, 69 percent [...]
Survey Says: More Than One in Four Underinsured
28 percent of insured adults under the age of 64 were uninsured in 2016, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey. The survey also found that: More than half of the uninsured are insured through their employer. Nearly one in four [...]
Despite Uncertainty, States Plan to Raise Medicaid Rates
Even though events in Washington leave the future of Medicaid unclear, 44 states still intend to raise at least some of their Medicaid rates in 2018. Inpatient payments to hospitals are not among the major targets of the planned rate [...]
Braving the Unknown, States Increase Medicaid Benefits
Despite the prospect of Congress and the administration enacting major reductions of federal Medicaid spending as part of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, more than half the states expanded their Medicaid programs in 2017 and many plan to [...]
Helping With Homelessness Reduces ER Costs
Hospitals are finding that helping homeless, frequent emergency room visitors find housing can reduce their unreimbursed ER costs. Throughout the country, hospitals are investing money – in some cases, millions of dollars – in housing programs for the homeless. What [...]
