Safety-Net Hospitals, Others Benefit From Changes in Medicare Readmissions Program
Safety-net hospitals are among the leading beneficiaries of changes implemented this year in Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program. According to a new study, safety-net, academic, and rural hospitals have enjoyed improved performance under the program since Medicare began organizing hospitals [...]
CMS Posts Proposed FY 2020 Inpatient Regulation
Medicare would change its wage index system, raise inpatient fees, increase funding for Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments (Medicare DSH), enhance payments for new technologies, and make minor modifications in its hospital readmissions reduction, value-based purchasing, and hospital-acquired condition program [...]
MACPAC Recommends Changes in Medicaid Shortfall Definition
Hospitals’ calculation of their Medicaid shortfall would change under a recommendation that MACPAC voted to make to Congress. That change, in turn, could affect hospitals’ future Medicaid disproportionate share payments. Last week the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission [...]
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 Commission wrapped up its work on the June 2019 Report to Congress on [...]
Delay Medicaid DSH Cuts, Pelosi Says
Medicaid DSH cuts should be delayed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told a gathering of hospital officials. According to Speaker Pelosi, DSH cuts threaten to erode the health of community hospitals, safety-net hospitals and rural hospitals, [affecting] the health of [...]
Medicare Advantage Permitted to Address Non-medical Needs
Starting in 2020, Medicare Advantage plans will be permitted to provide non-medical benefits to their chronically ill members. As described in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ “final call letter’ for 2020, MA [Medicare Advantage] plans are not prohibited [...]
NASH Asks House to Support Delay of Medicaid DSH Cut
Working to prevent the scheduled October 2019 reduction of Medicaid DSH allocations to the states, NASH has reached out to the House of Representatives for help. In a message delivered to all House members, NASH asked those members to sign [...]
NASH Asks Grassley, Senate Finance Committee to Delay Medicaid DSH Cut
Delay or eliminate the FY 2020 Medicaid disproportionate share payment cut, NASH has asked Senator Charles Grassley in a recent letter. The cut, mandated by the Affordable Care Act but delayed three times by Congress, was envisioned as an appropriate [...]
MedPAC Meets
Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. The issues on MedPAC’s April agenda were: Expanding the use of value-based payment in Medicare Medicare Shared Savings Program performance Redesigning [...]
Groups Work to Create New Codes for Social Determinants
Social determinants of health could have their own ICD-10 codes if a new initiative from the American Medical Association and United Healthcare succeeds. The two are working together to develop new ICD-10 codes that would take into consideration social determinants [...]
