Policy and Regulation

Hospitals Saw Substantial Underbilling for Medicare Telestroke Services

by Victoria Bailey

Following the Furthering Access to Stroke Telemedicine (FAST) Act, Medicare claims for telestroke services increased in rural and urban emergency departments. However, there was still substantial...

Senate Voted to Repeal COVID-19 Healthcare Worker Vaccine Mandate

by Victoria Bailey

The Senate has approved a resolution that seeks to repeal the COVID-19 healthcare worker vaccine mandate. The House of Representatives has not made such a vote, meaning as of now the vaccine mandate...

HHS to Distribute $560M in Phase 4 COVID-19 Provider Relief Funds

by Victoria Bailey

HHS is distributing another $560 million in Provider Relief Fund Phase 4 payments to over 4,100 healthcare providers that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Provider Relief Funds have been...

Texas Federal Judge Rules Against HHS in Surprise Billing Lawsuit

by Victoria Bailey

4/26/2022 update: This article has been updated to include the decision from HHS to appeal the ruling. A federal judge in Texas has ruled in favor of the Texas Medical Association (TMA) in a surprise...

50% of Hospitals Meet Price Transparency Rule for Lumbar Spine MRI

by Victoria Bailey

Only 50 percent of hospitals that offered lumbar spine MRI services were compliant with the CMS hospital price transparency rule, according to a study from Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy...

Hartford HealthCare Faces Antitrust Lawsuit, Monopoly Allegations

by Victoria Bailey

Six Connecticut residents have filed a healthcare antitrust lawsuit against Hartford HealthCare (HHC), alleging that the health system used unlawful and anticompetitive methods to charge payers and...

FAH Urges HHS to Extend COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, Waivers

by Victoria Bailey

The Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) has urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to extend the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) beyond the current April 2022 expiration...

Only 14% of Hospitals Met Price Transparency Rule Compliance

by Victoria Bailey

Less than 20 percent of hospitals are complying with the CMS price transparency rule that went into effect on January 1, 2021, according to a report from PatientRightsAdvocate.org. The hospital price...

States Try Again to Block Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare Workers

by Victoria Bailey

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and 15 other state attorney generals have filed a complaint against HHS and CMS to block the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. CMS first issued...

DOJ, FTC Seek to Modify Merger Guidelines to Foster Competition

by Sarai Rodriguez

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division announced plans to modify current merger guidelines across all industries to prevent anticompetitive...

Over 50 Lawmakers Urge Administration to End Direct Contracting

by Sarai Rodriguez

More than 50 lawmakers led by US Representative Pramila Jayapa urged the Biden administration to discontinue the Medicare Direct Contracting (DC) program and transition Medicare...

CMS Reinstates COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate in 25 States

by Sarai Rodriguez

CMS announced it would be reinstating the COVID-19 healthcare worker vaccine mandate to facilities in 25 states and the District of Columbia that are not affected by the preliminary...

HRSA Releases $48M to Boost Rural Healthcare Workforce

by Sarai Rodriguez

Through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HHS is awarding $48 million in grants for community-based organizations in rural and tribal areas to bolster the healthcare workforce in...

4 Barriers Providers Face with Preventing Surprise Medical Bills

by Sarai Rodriguez

A new survey uncovered the top four barriers hospitals and health systems are confronted with in their efforts to prevent surprise medical bills. In the survey commissioned by AKASA and performed by...

Providers Accuse NC Payer of Abusing No Surprises Act, Cutting Rates

by Sarai Rodriguez

The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) recently accused BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina of abusing the No Surprises Act to manipulate the market by pressuring clinicians into lower...

AHA Urges Congress to Uphold Current Merger and Acquisition Guidelines

by Victoria Bailey

The American Hospital Association (AHA), the US Chamber of Commerce, and 20 other organizations have written a letter to Congress asking them to maintain the legal and regulatory structures for...

AHA Pens Oppositions to 2022 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule

by Victoria Bailey

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has penned a letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure detailing its concerns surrounding CMS’ proposed Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) for...

Senators Introduce Provider Relief Fund Deadline Extension Act

by Jill McKeon

Two Senators introduced the Provider Relief Fund Deadline Extension Act, a bipartisan bill that would extend all Provider Relief Fund (PRF) benefits through the end of the year or the end of the...

Former DaVita CEO Faces Healthcare Labor Market Collusion Charges

by Jill McKeon

DaVita and its former CEO Kent Thiry are facing a two-count indictment for healthcare labor market collusion. A federal grand jury in Denver charged the dialysis and kidney care company and its ex-CEO...