In addition to the numerous hearings and markups on the opioid crisis discussed in a separate post, Congressional committees are examining the following health policy topics: The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) held a hearing to review HHS Office of Inspector General and Government Accountability Office oversight reports regarding the 340B … Continue Reading
CMS has announced final Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D plan policies and rates for 2019. The final 2019 rule, published on April 16, 2018, implements a Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) provision that allows Part D plan sponsors to establish drug management programs. Under this policy, plan sponsors may limit at-risk beneficiaries’ access … Continue Reading
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has issued its annual recommendations to Congress on updates to Medicare fee-for-service payment system rates, many of which overlap recommendations made in previous years. For instance, MedPAC continues to call for implementation of a unified prospective payment system (PPS) for post-acute care (PAC) providers, including skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), … Continue Reading
CMS is seeking comments on its proposed updates to the methodologies used to pay Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D plan sponsors for 2019. This year CMS released its 2019 Advance Notice and Draft Call Letter in two parts. In late 2017, CMS released proposed changes to the Part C risk adjustment model (Part I … Continue Reading
CMS has issued a proposed rule to update the Medicare Advantage (MA) program and Part D prescription drug benefit rules for contract year 2019. The proposed rule would, among many other things: Implement a Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) provision that allows Part D plan sponsors to establish drug management programs that limit at-risk … Continue Reading
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health has approved the following seven bipartisan bills addressing the Medicare Part B program: HR 3245, which would significantly increase various Medicare civil and criminal penalties under sections 1128A and 1128B of the Social Security Act, which sponsors note have not been updated in 20 years. Maximum penalties … Continue Reading
Recent House of Representatives committee hearings have focused on a variety of health care policy issues, including the following: Energy and Commerce Committee hearings on: the growth and oversight of the 340B drug discount program; drug and device company communications, including clinical/economic data; state efforts to address the opioid crisis; and extension of safety net … Continue Reading
House and Senate committees have held a number of hearings recently to focus on health policy topics, including the following: A Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee hearing on “The Cost of Prescription Drugs: How the Drug Delivery System Affects What Patients Pay,” the first of three planned hearings on prescription drug costs. A … Continue Reading
CMS has released its 2018 Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Rate Announcement and Call Letter. CMS estimates that plan revenues will increase by 0.45 percent in 2018; when coding acuity is considered, plans can expect a total revenue change of 2.95 percent. CMS also adopted provisions intended to reduce opioid misuse under Medicare Part … Continue Reading
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has released recommendations to Congress regarding how Medicare fee-for-service payment system rates should be adjusted in 2018. One of the focus areas for MedPAC is post-acute care (PAC), which includes skilled nursing facility (SNF), home health agency (HHA), inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF), and long-term care hospital (LTCH) services. According … Continue Reading
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is out with the latest installment of its “High-Risk Series,” which identifies federal programs “that are especially vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement, or that need transformative change.” Once again, GAO flags Medicare and Medicaid as high-risk programs. With regard to Medicare, GAO notes that while Congress, HHS, and … Continue Reading
CMS has released its 2018 Advance Notice and Call Letter, which outline proposed updates to Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D plan reimbursement methodologies and policies. CMS notes that it its proposed policies focus on four major outcomes: (1) improvement in quality of care for individuals, (2) promotion of alternative payment models, (3) program integrity … Continue Reading
Included in the 21st Century Cures Act are numerous changes to Medicare and Medicaid policies, including provisions with significant reimbursement impacts for certain types of Medicare providers and suppliers, along with changes intended to reduce the regulatory and administrative burdens associated with the use of electronic health records. Furthermore, the law once again expands the … Continue Reading
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued its final Medicare physician fee schedule (MPFS) for calendar year (CY) 2017. In addition to updating MPFS rates and policies, the final rule makes numerous other Medicare policy changes, including updates to Stark Law regulations related to unit-based compensation and new enrollment requirements for providers and … Continue Reading
The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued its FY 2017 Work Plan, which lays out the OIG’s current audit, evaluation, and other legal and investigative priorities. The largest number of new initiatives by far target Medicare Parts A and B, including reviews focusing on the following:… Continue Reading
CMS is announcing changes to the Medicare Advantage Value-Based Insurance Design (MA-VBID) model, which is testing how MA plans can use health plan design elements (e.g., supplemental benefits, disease management, or reduced cost sharing) to encourage enrollees with specified chronic conditions to use high-value clinical services or high-value providers that improve quality of care while … Continue Reading
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published the long-awaited final rule February 12, 2016, clarifying the specific procedures applicable to the statutory requirement under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) for providers and suppliers to report and return overpayments within 60 days. While the final rule eased some of the law’s more unforgiving aspects, … Continue Reading
The House of Representatives has approved H.R. 5273, the “Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act of 2016,” as amended by the Ways and Means Committee in May. As previously reported, while the bill focuses on Medicare payment policies pertaining to hospitals (including long term care hospitals and hospital outpatient departments), it also addresses Medicare Advantage … Continue Reading
The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have recently examined a number of Medicare and Medicaid provider screening and related program integrity issues. The OIG reports include the following:… Continue Reading
CMS has issued its final 2017 Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Rate Announcement and Call Letter, which includes a series of policy and payment changes related to these programs. CMS estimates that the final policies will increase MA rates by an average of 0.85%, down from the expected 1.35% increase in the advance notice … Continue Reading
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has released its annual recommendations to Congress on Medicare policies, including Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) payment updates and a status report on the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D programs. The following are highlights of the recommendations for 2017 (some of which were recommended previously):… Continue Reading
CMS has issued its draft 2017 Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Advance Notice and Draft Call Letter, which includes a variety of proposed policy changes and rate updates related to these programs. CMS estimates that the draft policies would increase MA rates by an average of 1.35% (considering coding trends the agency expects revenues … Continue Reading
The next Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) meeting is scheduled for October 8 -9, 2015. Topics on the agenda include: Medicare drug spending; Alternative Payment Models and the Merit-based Incentive Payment System; Medicare Advantage coding intensity, health risk assessments, benchmarks, and star ratings; and access to emergency care in rural areas.… Continue Reading
The next Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) meeting is scheduled for September 10-11, 2015. Topics on the agenda include, among others: developing a unified payment system for post-acute care; Medicare Advantage encounter data and star ratings; Medicare drug spending; and payments from drug and device manufacturers to physicians and teaching hospitals.… Continue Reading
