Posted
on August 2, 2022
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday, August 2. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.
White House
The White House has announced two new actions to address the youth mental health crisis: it will award nearly $300 million from the FY 2022 bipartisan omnibus agreement to expand access to mental health services in schools and it will encourage governors to invest more in school-based mental health services. Learn more about this effort, including the individual funding components of the $300 million in new spending, from this White House fact sheet.
Medicare Payment Regulations
- CMS has issued its final Medicare inpatient prospective payment system and long-term care prospective payment system regulation for FY 2023. Highlights of the final rule include a 4.3 percent increase in Medicare hospital inpatient rates and a 2.3 percent increase in LTCH rates; a reduction of $318 million in the Medicare DSH uncompensated care payment pool; introduction of a new “birthing-friendly hospital” designation for hospitals that meet certain criteria; the introduction of three new health equity measures; a permanent five percent cap on year-to-year wage index reductions; and more.
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Posted
on July 27, 2022
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 27. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.
Final Medicare Payment Regulations for FY 2023
- CMS has issued its final FY 2023 Medicare inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) payment system regulation, finalizing a rate increase of 3.9 percent, which is greater than the 2.8 percent the agency proposed in April. To learn more about CMS’s final IRF payment rule for FY 2023, see this CMS fact sheet and the final rule itself.
- CMS also has finalized its Medicare inpatient psychiatric facility prospective payment system final rule for FY 2023, including a 2.5 percent rate increase. Learn more from this CMS fact sheet and the final rule itself.
- In addition, CMS has published its FY 2023 hospice payment rate update final rule, finalizing a 3.8 percent rate increase. Learn more from this CMS fact sheet and from the final rule itself.
White House
The White House COVID-19 response team has briefed the press about the administration’s latest efforts in the response to COVID-19. Find a transcript of its latest briefing here.
The White House …
Filed under:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,
Congress,
COVID-19,
Medicaid,
Medicaid long-term services and supports,
Medicaid managed care,
Medicare,
Medicare post-acute care,
Medicare regulations,
Medicare reimbursement policy,
MedPAC,
post-acute care,
Telehealth
Posted
on July 20, 2022
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 20. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.
White House
The White House COVID-19 response team has briefed the press about the administration’s latest efforts in the response to COVID-19. Find a transcript of that teleconference briefing here.
COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency effective July 15.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- CMS has released its proposed Medicare outpatient prospective payment system regulation for calendar year 2023. Highlights include:
- A proposed rate increase of 2.7 percent for Medicare-covered outpatient services.
- A proposed rate increase of 2.7 percent for ambulatory surgical center services.
- A proposal to pay rural sole-community hospitals the full outpatient prospective payment system rate, rather than the site-neutral, physician fee schedule equivalent rate, for clinic visits in excepted off-campus provider-based departments.
- An incomplete proposal for 340B payments in which CMS is formally proposing a payment rate of average sale price minus 22.5 percent for drugs and biologicals acquired through the 340B program, as it has been in recent years, but the proposed
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Filed under:
340b,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,
COVID-19,
MACPAC,
Medicaid,
Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission,
Medicare,
Medicare post-acute care,
Medicare regulations,
Medicare reimbursement policy,
MedPAC,
Telehealth
Posted
on June 30, 2022
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Thursday, June 30. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.
White House
The White House has unveiled its “White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis.”
Monkeypox Update
- The White House has announced the first phase of its national monkeypox vaccine strategy, a part of its monkeypox outbreak response. The major components of the strategy include expanded efforts to vaccinate those most at risk, expanded testing supply and availability, and greater engagement with community leaders and stakeholders. Learn more about the White House’s plan from this fact sheet.
- HHS has announced an enhanced nationwide vaccination strategy to mitigate the spread of monkeypox. The strategy includes vaccinating and protecting those at risk of monkeypox, prioritizing vaccines for areas with the highest numbers of cases, and providing guidance to state, territorial, tribal, and local health officials to aid their planning and response efforts. HHS will provide 296,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine. Of that amount, 56,000 doses will be made available immediately and an additional 240,000 doses will be made available in the coming weeks. HHS expects more
…
Filed under:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,
COVID-19,
MACPAC,
Medicaid,
Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission,
Medicaid managed care,
Medicaid regulations for long-term care,
Medicare,
Medicare post-acute care,
Medicare regulations,
MedPAC
Posted
on June 27, 2022
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:15 p.m. on Monday, June 27. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.
White House
The White House COVID-19 response team has briefed the press about the administration’s latest efforts in the response to COVID-19. Find a transcript of that briefing here and find the slides presented during that briefing here.
Supreme Court
In a case that challenged a 2005 change in how CMS calculates Medicare disproportionate share (Medicare DSH) payments, the Supreme Court has, in a 5-4 decision, reversed a lower court ruling and upheld CMS’s policy to count days of care for which Medicare does not pay in the Medicare fraction of the Medicare DSH percentage – a policy change widely viewed as disadvantageous to hospitals that care for larger numbers of low-income patients. This means that Medicare exhausted days and days of care provided to Medicare enrollees with another source of third-party coverage count in the numerator and denominator of the Medicare fraction. In most cases this results in a lower percentage of a hospital’s Medicare patients also being eligible for SSI and the lowering of that …
Filed under:
Alternative payment models,
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,
CMMI,
MACPAC,
Medicaid,
Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission,
Medicare,
Medicare disproportionate share,
Medicare DSH,
Medicare post-acute care,
Medicare reimbursement policy,
Telehealth
