OIG Reiterates Medicare, Medicaid Recommendations
Every year the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) examines the operations of various department offices, programs, and policies and offers recommendations for changes and improvements. Some of those recommendations are adopted and [...]
MedPAC Offers Recommendations on Payments, More
The federal agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues has submitted to Congress its annual recommendations for changes in how Medicare pays providers for the services they deliver to the nation’s seniors. Among the recommendations offered by the Medicare [...]
Congress Mulls Another Medicare Doc Fix
With a March 31 deadline looming before Medicare payments to physicians are scheduled to decline more than 20 percent, it appears Congress may be considering permanent repeal of the underlying root of the problem rather than yet another short-term patch. [...]
MedPAC Recommends Changes in Medicare Short Stay Policies
The independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues has recommended that Congress call on Medicare to revise its policies governing short hospital stays for Medicare patients. At its March 5 meeting in Washington, D.C., staff of the Medicare [...]
Safety-Net Hospitals Struggle With Medicare’s Value-Based Purchasing
Safety-net hospitals are more likely than others to fare poorly under Medicare’s value-based purchasing program. Or so concludes a new study published in the journal Health Affairs. Researchers examined the impact of the addition of patient mortality measures to the [...]
States Turning More to Providers to Fund Medicaid
States are relying more on provider taxes and other sources to raise their share of Medicaid funding, a new study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found. According to the GAO, state use of such funding rose 21 [...]
NAUH Endorses Bill to Improve Medicare Readmissions Reduction Program
The National Association of Urban Hospitals has endorsed a new bill to add risk adjustment to Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program. The Establishing Beneficiary Equity in the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Act, sponsored in the Senate (S. 688) by senators Rob [...]
Medicare Unveils New ACO Program
The federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is launching a new accountable care organization (ACO) model through which providers can join together to serve Medicare patients. The “Next Generation ACO” seeks to build on the experience, insight, and feedback [...]
Congress to Consider Adding Risk Adjustment to Medicare Readmissions Program
A new bill introduced in Congress this week would require Medicare to consider the social determinants of health of the patients individual hospitals serve as part of its hospital readmissions reduction program. The Establishing Beneficiary Equity in the Hospital Readmissions [...]
MedPAC Looks at Short-Stay Issues
The agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues is preparing to suggest changes in how Medicare approaches paying for short hospital stays. At last week’s meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), commissioners received a staff presentation on [...]
