Senate HELP committee to hold bipartisan hearings
The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) will hold two hearings when Congress returns after Labor Day. During the August...
Panel urges CMS to abandon proposal to cut 340B payments
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Advisory Panel on Hospital Outpatient Payment (HOP) recommended Monday that the agency drop plans to finalize...
Low volume adjustment expires October 1, 2017 with $5M South Dakota impact
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) improved the low-volume adjustment for FYs 2011 and 2012, and MACRA extended the adjustment through the end of FY...
Speculation continues about possible ACA legislation; CSR payments funded for August
While members of congress are away on recess, efforts are underway to try and revive legislation to repeal and replace portions of the Affordable...
CMS proposes to cancel major bundled payment initiatives
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed canceling two bundled payment models, the cardiac and expanded joint replacement models.
The proposed rule,...
Veterans choice appropriations bill signed by the president
President Trump signed into law the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 last week. The legislation provides $2.1 billion in funding to...
Senate adjourns; uncertainty persists for CSR payments
The Senate adjourned late last week for their August recess after proposals to repeal and partially replace the Affordable Care Act failed. However, uncertainty...
CMS finalizes payment and quality rules for post-acute providers
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued three final rules outlining 2018 Medicare payment rates for skilled nursing facilities, hospice, and...
Explanation of special status calculation for Quality Payment Program (QPP)
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has introduced new information on qpp.cms.gov that indicates whether clinicians have “special status” which would allow...
Final rule released for FY2018 Medicare inpatient payments (IPPS)
On Aug. 2, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule to update the hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS)...
