The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for February 27 to March 3.  Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.

No Surprises Act

• The Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) entities empowered by the No Surprises Act to adjudicate disagreements between providers and payers may resume their work – but only some of it.  CMS has directed IDRs entities to resume processing payment determinations on February 27 for disputes involving items or services furnished before October 25, 2022 but not to issue decisions involving items or services furnished on or after October 25, 2022 until federal agencies can provide additional direction.  The work of IDRs was brought to a halt by a federal court ruling last month that found that the process created by federal agencies to implement the No Surprises Act violated the terms of that law by unduly favoring health care payers over providers.  Learn more about where the dispute resolution process stands and what providers and payers can expect from the federal agencies charged with responsibility for implementing the No Surprises Act from this CMS notice.
• The Congressional Research Service has published a brief overview of the No Surprises

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for February 17-23.  Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

• CMS has issued an informational bulletin to states reiterating certain federal requirements that pertain to health care-related taxes.  Recently, CMS became aware that some health care-related tax programs appear to involve agreements among providers to redistribute their Medicaid payments to hold taxpayers harmless for the cost of the tax.  The bulletin reminds states that such arrangements are prohibited.  Find the CMS bulletin here.
• CMS has posted a presentation on accessibility requirements in Medicaid and CHIP.  Find it here.
• As required by law, HHS has published a semi-annual list of rule-making actions under development throughout the department.  Find that list here, along with a link to a formal Federal Register notice.
• Writing in the journal Health Affairs, CMS officials report that in a limited review of hospital compliance with the agency’s hospital price transparency rule, the proportion of hospitals in compliance with both parts of the rule rose from 27 percent in 2021 to 70 percent in 2022 and more than 80 percent currently

Telehealth is not improving access to help for patients with opioid use disorders, a new study has found.

Instead, use of telehealth is comparable to visits to providers’ offices when it comes to access.

According to the analysis,

Results of this study revealed that clinical outcomes were similar among patients who were treated by clinicians with high and low telemedicine use during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that telemedicine is a comparable alternative to in-person OUD care. There was no evidence that telemedicine was associated with increased access to or improved quality of OUD treatment.

Learn more from the JAMA Network Open article “Telemedicine Use and Quality of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in the US During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”…

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for January 6-12.  Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.

Renewal of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has signed an order extending the previous declaration of a COVID-19 public health emergency.  This declaration extends the emergency to April 11.  The administration continues to assure stakeholders it will provide 60 days’ notice prior to the end of the public health emergency.

MedPAC Medicare Rate Recommendations

• Every year MedPAC recommends to Congress rate increases for the different kinds of health care providers for the coming year.  While MedPAC’s recommendations are not binding, they are highly respected and often find their way into future public policy.  MedPAC commissioners are holding public meetings today and tomorrow (January 12 and 13) and so far have offered the following recommendations:

• • Hospital payments – an increase of what current law calls for plus one percent, a transition to beginning to distribute Medicare DSH and uncompensated care payments through a new Medicare safety-net index (MSNI), and an increase of $2 billion in the MSNI pool.
  • Physician payments – an update of 50 percent of the projected

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for the week of December 19-22.  Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.

Congress

As of this writing, Congress continues to work on an FY 2023 omnibus spending bill:  the Senate has passed it but the House has not yet addressed it.  Highlights of what negotiators have agreed to – but that have not yet been adopted – include:

• Preventing the additional four percent Medicare sequester for two years.
• Reducing by more than half the 4.5 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians that was scheduled to take effect on January 1.  The agreement calls for reducing that 4.5 percent cut to just two percent in 2023 and then imposing a 3.5 percent cut in 2024.
• Extending COVID-19 public health emergency Medicare telehealth policies for two years, through 2024.
• Ending the maintenance-of-effort requirement from the Families First Coronavirus Response Act that prohibited states from removing ineligible individuals from their Medicaid rolls.  Under that law, states were prohibited from reviewing the eligibility of Medicaid beneficiaries for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency in exchange for a 6.2 percentage point increase in FMAP.