August 24, 2023 7:03PM ET (Inside Health Policy) As health systems press state and federal policymakers to continue coverage of CMS’ Acute Care at Home program beyond 2024, bigger questions are brewing as to what a permanent coverage program should look like. At issue for setting a long-term hospital at home coverage program is what […]

Submitted electronically. August 28, 2023 The Honorable Chiquita Brooks-LaSureAdministratorCenters for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesHubert H. Humphrey Building200 Independence Avenue, S.W.Room 445-GWashington, DC 20201 Re: Medicare Program; Calendar Year (CY) 2024 Home Health (HH) Prospective Payment System Rate Update; HH Quality Reporting Program Requirements; HH Value-Based Purchasing Expanded Model Requirements; Home Intravenous Immune Globulin Items and […]

Hospitals are on defense as Congress takes a serious look at site-neutral payments — but they’re not going to let the policy pass without a fight. Why it matters: Hospitals are a powerful force and have a presence in congressional districts across the country. They argue they’re pushing back against cuts that would end up harming […]

Hospitals are on defense as Congress takes a serious look at site-neutral payments — but they’re not going to let the policy pass without a fight.   Why it matters: Hospitals are a powerful force and have a presence in congressional districts across the country. They argue they’re pushing back against cuts that would end up […]

MedPAC commissioners on Thursday (Dec. 9) signaled support for increasing hospital and dialysis center funding in 2023, but they also favored eliminating pay bumps for primary care physicians, ambulatory surgical centers and hospice care facilities. In their draft recommendations, commissioners also endorsed requiring the introduction of a claims modifier to delineate between audiovisual and audio-only […]

The Senate passed legislation 59-34 yesterday that cancels automatic cuts to Medicare, farm subsidies and other programs triggered by deficit spending earlier this year under the PAYGO law. The measure (S. 610) would push into 2023 the balances on statutory “pay-as-you-go” scorecards that would have triggered funding cuts next year. It also would hit pause […]

Oncologists are looking to Congress for relief after having little luck in convincing the Biden administration to change the mandatory radiation oncology model that the American Society for Radiation Oncology says will hurt more than half of forced participants. CMS Innovation Center Director Liz Fowler recently disagreed with the radiologists’ take on the demo, and […]

The push to cut more than $1 trillion from Democrats’ social spending bill and possibly scrap a planned expansion of Medicare presents the biggest test to date of the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ clout. The 96 members, who account for nearly half of the House majority, showed their strength last month by delaying a bipartisan infrastructure […]

New vision, dental, and hearing benefits under Medicare must be included in Democrats’ social spending package if it’s going to win support from progressives, lawmakers said yesterday. “This to me is not negotiable,” Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told reporters when asked if cutting the added benefits is a red line for progressives. Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), said her […]

Medicare managed-care plans say they’ll have to increase premiums and reduce benefit offerings if Democrats cut their program reimbursements to help pay for new dental, vision, and hearing benefits in traditional Medicare. Because these Medicare Advantage plans receive higher payments for beneficiaries with more ailments and higher expected medical costs, plan providers typically record all […]