MACPAC Meets
The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met for two days last week in Washington, D.C. The following is MACPAC’s own summary of the sessions. The February 2020 MACPAC meeting opened with a continuation of MACPAC’s examination of Medicaid’s [...]
Comfort, Not Quality, Woos Patients
People are more likely to recommend a hospital based on the comfort they felt when hospitalized rather than the quality of the care they received, a new study has found. Good food, rooms with a view, friendly nurses, peace and [...]
NASH Opposes Proposed 340B Data Collection
The federal government should not require hospitals to submit new data on their acquisition costs for prescription drugs they dispense to low-income patients through the section 340B prescription drug discount program, NASH has told the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid [...]
MFAR Backlash Continues
Diverse health care and government interests are rallying around their opposition to the proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability rule. The regulation, proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in November would impose new limits on the ability of states [...]
Azar: Budget Proposes Reducing Medicaid Matching $
The federal government would reduce its financial commitment to state Medicaid programs under the FY 2021 budget the Trump administration proposed earlier this month. While testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, [...]
Supreme Court Paves Way for Public Charge Regulation
The revised public charge regulation that will make it more difficult for some immigrants to come to the U.S. will be implemented after the Supreme Court lifted preliminary injunctions issued by lower courts that delayed the regulation’s implementation. Under revisions [...]
Fitch: Medicaid Block Grants, MFAR Threaten States, Providers
Medicaid block grants and the proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation (MFAR) pose new financial threats to providers and states, according to Fitch Ratings, the financial rating company. MFAR poses the greater threat, Fitch believes, noting in a new analysis that [...]
Verma Responds to MFAR Critics
CMS administrator Seema Verma addresses criticism of her agency’s proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation in a new commentary on the CMS blog. Critics of the so-called MFAR regulation have argued that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed regulation, [...]
340B Déjà Vu: CMS Seeks to Collect Data From Hospitals
For the second time in four months, the federal government has announced its intention to collect data from hospitals and other providers on what they pay for the prescription drugs they purchase through the section 340B prescription drug discount program. [...]
Verma Responds to Medicaid Block Grant Critics
Last week the Trump administration unveiled its Healthy Adult Opportunity program, a new, optional, already-controversial approach to structuring state Medicaid programs. Ever since, the program – essentially, Medicaid block grants – has been the subject of criticism from many public [...]
