Pressure Off 340B?
Two key House subcommittees will not hold hearings on the controversial 340B prescription drug discount program in the near future. The chairs of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee and its Health Committee have both suggested [...]
ACA Repeal Would Drive Up Uninsured, Uncompensated Care
At the same time that the Trump administration announced that it has asked a federal court to repeal the entire Affordable Care Act, the Urban Institute has published a report detailing the potential impact of the health care reform law’s [...]
Medicaid Transportation Services in Jeopardy?
The White House has proposed removing non-emergency transportation from the list of mandatory Medicaid benefits. The proposed FY 2020 budget released last week explained that Statute allows, but does not require, States to provide non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT). Instead, these [...]
MACPAC Makes DSH, UPL Recommendations
Changes could come in Medicaid DSH and UPL payments if new MACPAC recommendations are adopted. Last week the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission released its annual report to Congress, with most of the report focusing on its analysis [...]
More Potential Budget Obstacles for Private Safety-Net Hospitals
Part two of the Trump administration’s proposed FY 2020 budget brought more potential bad news for private safety-net hospitals. Last week’s “lean budget” released by the White House included a number of challenges for private safety-net hospitals and this [...]
“Rejected” Medicaid Reforms May Resurface
Partial Medicaid expansion, desired by some Republican governors but rejected by the Trump administration last year, may not be so rejected after all. At least not according to Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which [...]
MedPAC Offers Recommendations on FY 2020 Rates, More
Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission released its annual report to Congress. Included in this report are MedPAC’s Medicare rate recommendations for the coming year. They are: hospital inpatient rates – a two percent increase hospital outpatient rates – [...]
HHS Talking to States About Medicaid Block Grants
In the absence of legislation to turn Medicaid into a block grant program, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is talking to some states about granting waivers that permit them – voluntarily – to turn their individual Medicaid [...]
Sneak Preview of Medicaid Spending Limits?
The imposition of spending limits for individual Medicaid recipients has been discussed in Washington policy circles for years and was offered in the White House’s recent FY 2020 budget proposal. While deliberations on such a proposal have never advanced in [...]
“Medicaid Shortfall” Definition Changing?
The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission last week discussed possible changes in how “Medicaid shortfall” is defined for the purpose of determining how much Medicaid disproportionate share money (Medicaid DSH) safety-net hospitals should receive. The discussion came in [...]
