On July 6, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed rule that updates and revises its End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for calendar year 2021 (CMS-1732-P). This rule makes regular annual updates to the ESRD PPS and proposes certain changes to the ESRD Quality Improvement Program (QIP). [...] Read More
Senate leaders have recently announced that Congress has reached a deal on an additional COVID-19-driven funding package, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act. This recent funding package replenishes a loan program for small businesses impacted by the coronavirus outbreak, but also includes funding related to COVID-19 testing. Dubbed CARES 3.5, this deal [...] Read More
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website includes a photograph that shows what can only be described as an idealized version of rural America: a beckoning country lane leading past well-fed, grazing cattle to a large, beautifully maintained and attractively landscaped house and barn. But the statistics superimposed over this bucolic scene reveal a very [...] Read More
On May 2, CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced the Trump Administration’s “comprehensive strategy” to foster innovation for and improve patient’s access to transformative medical technologies. The strategy, detailed by Administrator Verma in a speech at the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA) Annual Meeting, is based on two specific changes related to coding. CMS says that [...] Read More
On April 19, 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the proposed rule for FY 2020 payment and quality program updates for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). CMS estimates that Medicare payment to SNFs will increase by $887 million in FY 2020. The market basket update is to increase by 2.5 percent. SNFs [...] Read More
This evening Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the FY 2020 Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Prospective Payment System (IPF PPS) and Quality Reporting Updates proposed rule. CMS proposes to update the IPF PPS market basket by 1.85 percent for FY 2020 and to rebase the IPF market basket to 2016 base year- stating that [...] Read More
When the federal government began requiring hospitals to post their prices at the beginning of this year, CMS Administrator Seema Verma praised the initiative and declared that revealing this financial information would “. . . empower patients.” Three months into the effort, do consumers have more transparency and choice, is there increased price competition among [...] Read More
On April 29th, Dr. Jennifer Lee, Virginia’s state Medicaid Director, will be the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum's featured speaker. She will discuss how our home state is managing Medicaid expansion, addressing social determinants of health, and dealing with the opioid crisis as well as other topics. As the Director of the Department of Medical [...] Read More
Louisiana took a precedent-setting step last week to confront the costly public health challenges associated with the Hepatitis C virus, (HCV) at the same time embarking on a plan to eventually rid the state of HCV. Health policy experts nationwide are watching the innovative program, anticipating that it could provide a model for states nationwide. [...] Read More