The Biden administration is proposing harsher fines for hospitals that don’t publish the prices they charge, strengthening a new Trump-era transparency measure opposed by the industry. What happened: The Biden administration, citing early reports that many hospitals are not complying with the new requirements, wants to up the maximum annual penalty from $109,500 to $2 million per hospital. Hospitals […]

On July 19, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed Medicare payment rates for hospital outpatient and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) services. The Calendar Year (CY) 2022 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and ASC Payment System Proposed Rule is published annually and will have a 60-day comment period, which will end […]

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing actions to address the health equity gap, ensure consumers have the information they need to make fully informed decisions regarding their health care, improve emergency care access in rural communities, and use lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to inform patient care and quality measurements.  In […]

Senate Democrats are debating lowering the Medicare eligibility age as part of the $3.5-trillion “soft” infrastructure package, at the risk of jeopardizing centrist support for a measure being pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Why it matters: Giving Americans over age 60 access to Medicare would force Democrats to either add an estimated $200 billion […]

Hospital groups are raising alarms on Capitol Hill over the possibility that a bipartisan infrastructure package will be paid for partly by Covid-19 relief funds earmarked for health-care providers and an extension of Medicare cuts. Health care trade groups launched a lobbying blitz earlier this month, with the American Hospital Association, America’s Essential Hospitals and […]

Hospitals, doctors, hospices, home health agencies and others are asking Senate leadership in both parties not to extend Medicare sequestration to pay for some of the bipartisan infrastructure deal, but one lobbyist says there are a number of unanswered questions about how Medicare sequester cuts could factor into both the infrastructure bill and the Senate […]

Senate Democrats’ plan to expand Medicare coverage would help a growing senior population often struggling with hefty out-of-pocket medical expenses, potentially providing ballast for the economy in coming years. Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee agreed Tuesday on a $3.5 trillion spending level for a bill to carry most of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda […]

Senate Democrats laid out an ambitious $3.5 trillion tax and spending agreement that’s slated to include a major expansion of both Medicare and Medicaid, paid for partly with cuts to prescription drug spending. President Joe Biden hasn’t yet said himself whether he supports the proposal unveiled by Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee Tuesday night, […]

Senate Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending package will unleash a gusher of hundreds of billions of dollars for progressive priorities, from climate programs to an expansion of Medicare to promised green cards for some undocumented immigrants, according to new details released on Wednesday. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Mark Warner […]

Most physicians, surgeons, and specialists would see only minor increases or reductions in their Medicare payment rates next year under a proposal released Tuesday by the Biden administration. The rate reductions outlined in the proposed 2022 Medicare physician fee schedule are due to budget neutrality provisions in the Medicare Act that require program payment hikes be offset […]