Administration Delays Major 340B Program Regulation
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has decided against releasing a long-awaited regulation that was expected to bring sweeping changes to the federal government’s 340B Drug Pricing Program. The 340B program requires drug manufacturers to sell drugs at [...]
OIG Sets 2015 Medicare, Medicaid Investigations
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has outlined the areas where it anticipates focusing its investigative energies in 2015. Among the Medicare issues it plans to address next year are: new hospital [...]
Medicaid Directors Look to the Future
The directors of state Medicaid programs met recently outside Washington, D.C. to compare notes and take a closer look at the challenges they face in the future. During the conference, sponsored by the National Association of Medicaid Directors, more than [...]
States Face Medicaid Challenges
Fifty American states have 50 different Medicaid programs. While no two state Medicaid programs are alike, the people who run those programs often share common concerns, problems, and priorities. The National Association of Medicaid Directors has surveyed its members on [...]
Does ACA Get Credit for Decline of Premature Birth Rates?
Some advocates believe the Affordable Care Act is responsible for the premature birth rate falling in 2013 to its lowest level in 17 years. According to the March of Dimes, the premature birth rate fell to 11.4 percent last year, [...]
MedPAC Meets, Addresses Hospital Issues
The independent federal agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues met last week in Washington and addressed a number of issues of importance to hospitals. Among the issues discussed by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) were: beneficiary access [...]
Study Suggests Key to Avoiding Medicare Readmissions
Researchers from the Columbia Business School believe they have identified the key to reducing Medicare readmissions. Keep patients in the hospital for one more day. The Columbia study “Should Hospitals Keep Their Patients Longer? The Role of Inpatient and Outpatient [...]
No-Hospitalization Group Plans To Be Banned
Companies will no longer be able to provide their employees with group health insurance plans that do not cover inpatient hospitalization. This news came in a recent notice published by the Internal Revenue Service. Recently, many large employers with lower-wage [...]
Suit Against Medicare Rate Cut Continues
Hospital groups are suing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) over the 0.2 percent rate cut in Medicare inpatient payments during the 2014 fiscal year. According to the hospital groups, CMS failed to provide a rationale for the [...]
MACPAC Not Yet Sold on Continuing Medicaid Primary Care Pay Increase
The independent federal agency that advises Congress on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program is not ready to endorse continuing the Affordable Care Act’s two-year increase in Medicaid primary care fees as a means of encouraging more doctors to [...]
