E&C Calls for Action on 340B
The section 340B prescription drug program has flaws and needs change, a report by the House Energy and Commerce Committee has concluded. The program, which requires pharmaceutical companies to provide discounts on prescription drugs to be dispensed on an outpatient [...]
Medicaid Expansion Helps Save Hospitals
Hospitals in states that took advantage of the Affordable Care Act to expand their Medicaid programs are six times less likely to close than hospitals in non-expansion states. And the impact of Medicaid expansion is even more beneficial for hospitals [...]
Report Looks at Work Requirements
As a growing number of states consider implementing work requirements as a condition for Medicaid eligibility, the Urban Institute has released a report that describes work requirements in various government cash assistance, nutrition assistance, and housing assistance programs and considers [...]
Medicare Penalizes Hospitals for Avoidable Injuries, Illnesses
Medicare is reducing payments to 751 hospitals because of the high rate at which their patients have suffered avoidable injuries and illnesses while in the hospital. The penalties come under Medicare’s Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program, which was established by the [...]
The Continued Need for Medicaid DSH
While the Affordable Care Act has greatly increased the number of Americans with health insurance and reduced the demand for uncompensated care from hospitals, many hospitals still see significant numbers of uninsured patients. Some of those patients simply have not [...]
Medicaid Directors Meet
The National Association of Medicaid Directors held its fall conference recently outside Washington, D.C. This is an important event at which policy-makers and policy experts meet to discuss Medicaid programs, trends, challenges, and opportunities. Many of the materials used during [...]
MACPAC Meets
The non-partisan legislative branch agency that advises Congress, the administration, and the states on Medicaid and CHIP-related issues met recently in Washington, D.C. The following is the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission’s own summary of its meeting. The [...]
Senators Seek 340B Reprieve
A bipartisan group of senators has written to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer expressing concern about cuts in Medicare Medicare prescription drug payments to qualified providers as a result of new regulations governing the [...]
House to Set Sights on Medicare, Medicaid Cuts in 2018
The House of Representatives will pursue entitlement spending cuts next year, House Speaker Paul Ryan recently explained on a radio program. That means Medicare, Medicaid, and possibly even Social Security. Ryan said that We're going to have to get back [...]
MedPAC Meets
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. last week. Among the issues on the agenda of the independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues were: payment adequacy for physicians and other health professional services An alternative [...]
