Azar: More Value-Based Care Coming
Medicare may add more value-based care initiatives and alternative payment models to those it already operates, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar suggested at a recent event in Washington, D.C. During his remarks, Azar spoke about population health benefits, [...]
More Hospitals Gain Than Lose in FY 2020 Value-Based Purchasing Program
Medicare’s value-based purchasing program will reward more hospitals than it will penalize in FY 2020 through its value-based purchasing program. The program, in which 2700 hospitals are scored in four domains – clinical outcomes, safety, person and community engagement, and [...]
High-Deductible Plans Losing Luster Amid Low Unemployment
The competition for employees is leading more businesses to offer more generous health insurance plans in addition to high-deductible plans. As health insurance premiums rose in recent years, more and more companies were offering their employees more high-deductible insurance options [...]
Verma Hints at More Medicaid Changes, Deregulation
Stay tuned for more Medicaid changes, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma told a Las Vegas health care gathering last week. CMS, she told her audience, will …soon outline new opportunities for states to flip the Medicaid [...]
Number of Uninsured Children on the Rise
The number of children insured by Medicaid and CHIP has fallen by more than one million over the past two years after reaching an all-time low (by percentage) in 2016. Why? According to the New York Times, Some state and [...]
Court Upholds Delay of Medicare Site-Neutral Payment Cut
Medicare cannot proceed with its plan to pay for outpatient care on a site-neutral basis while it appeals a court ruling rejecting that policy, a federal court has ruled. A federal judge found that Medicare has not articulated an adequate [...]
Grassley Questions Aspects of Graduate Medical Education
Graduate medical education is the subject of inquiry in a recent letter from Senate Finance Committee chairman Charles Grassley to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. In his letter to Secretary Azar, Senator Grassley asks for information about how [...]
Immigrants Intimidated by New Public Charge Guidelines?
Immigrants served by community health centers appear less inclined than in the past to seek public aid to help them with their medical problems. And community health center staff believes this is the result of confusion and fear as a [...]
No Primary Doc Shortage for Medicare Patients – at Least Not Yet
Medicare patients currently have adequate access to primary care physicians, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. But that could change in the near future, MedPAC warns. Amid long-term concerns about whether there are enough primary care doctors, a new [...]
Most Hospitals Hit With Medicare Readmissions Penalties
Nearly 2600 hospitals will be penalized by Medicare in FY 2020 for excessive patients readmissions under Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In all, 83 percent of hospitals covered by the program [...]
