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 [...]
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 [...]
