The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is the latest group to weigh telehealth reimbursement expansions after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a meeting held virtually last week, MedPAC analysts...
Clinicians who served more patients with social risk factors such as low income performed worse in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System’s inaugural payment year, and therefore, received...
HHS’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) will audit Medicare payments made to hospitals for COVID-19 discharges that qualified for a 20 percent add-on payment under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief,...
Yesterday, CMS unveiled the highly anticipated Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) final rule for the 2021 fiscal year (FY). Chief among the rule’s updated policies is a 2.9 percent...
UPDATE 09/03/2020: For an in-depth analysis for the FY 2021 IPPS final rule, click here.
CMS recently released the final FY 2021 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and...
Medicare reimbursement cuts meant to keep home health payments levels during the transition to a patient-based payment system have actually resulted in significant revenue decreases for the providers,...
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is demanding that five major pharmaceutical companies cease new efforts to curtail 340B drug discounts.
In the past couple of weeks, Merck, Eli Lilly, Sanofi,...
COVID-19 data reporting will no longer be voluntary for hospitals participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs, according to a new interim final rule from CMS.
For more coronavirus updates, visit...
Hospitals need more time to repay Medicare payments advanced to them as a financial safety line at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) recently told...
Claims eligible for the 20 percent add-on payment for COVID-19 hospitalizations will now have to have a positive laboratory test documented in the patient’s medical record, according to recent...
Physician prices for commercial insurers are still well above those paid by Medicare, but there is significant variation in how much more the payers reimburse physicians for professional medical...
In last week’s release of the proposed 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule, CMS confirmed that it will implement changes to evaluation and management (E/M) payments by updating work...
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is calling on CMS to reconsider repayment options for hospitals that accepted accelerated Medicare payments at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more...
UPDATE 08/24/2020: CMS has extended the deadline for hospitals to apply for reclassification of their Medicare wage index area for FY 2022 from Sept. 1, 2020, to 15 days after it releases the...
CMS is making permanent some regulatory flexibilities offered to inpatient rehabilitation facilities during the COVID-19 public health emergency, according to a new rule.
The Inpatient Rehabilitation...
CMS recently resumed medical review activities, including pre- and post-payment reviews conducted by Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs), which were paused...
Medicare outpatient payments are slated to increase by 2.6 percent next year, a $7.5 billion boost compared to 2020, according the proposed 2021 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS)...
Which Medicare waivers will be made permanent by CMS after the COVID-19 public health emergency is still up in the air, but the recently proposed 2021 Physician Fee Schedule rule indicates that...
An appeals court recently ruled against hospital groups seeking to block a nearly 30 percent reduction in 340B hospital payments to hospitals participating in the federal drug discount program.
The...
In one of three Medicare payment rules recently released by CMS, the agency announced that it will increase skilled nursing facility reimbursement by $750 million, or 2.2 percent, for fiscal year (FY)...
