On June 22, 2023, the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing titled “MACRA Checkup: Assessing Implementation and Challenges that Remain for...more
Congress was in session for a final week of legislative business before the two-week Independence Day recess. The House brought a small-business-focused healthcare bill to the floor, approving it along party lines....more
The proposed rule would make transparency-related updates to state directed payments (SDPs). It would also require states to submit an annual payment analysis that compares managed care plans’ payment rates for routine...more
A bipartisan group of senators has introduced the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2019. A summary produced by that bipartisan group is attached....more
The ACO Specialist Manual is a strategic guide to getting the optimum value-add contributions from each medical specialty in integrated health care. For purposes of this Manual, the teams are generally termed accountable care...more
On March 4, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a wide-ranging proposed rule (“Proposed Rule”) with the intent to “move the health care ecosystem in the direction of interoperability” in...more
The OIG added six new items to its Work Plan in the July 2018 update. Areas addressed include HHS cybersecurity vulnerabilities, increased payments for transfer claims with outliers, oversight of funds for Access Increases in...more
The wide-reaching Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA), passed by Congress and signed by the President on February 9, 2018, extends and modifies dozens of health care programs, including extending funding for two years for...more
• Congress amended current law to prevent CMS from applying the “MIPS” payment adjustment to separately billed items like drugs and biologics, which will drastically reduce the total amount of payment adjustments to clinical...more
After a brief federal government shutdown overnight, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 on February 9, 2018. The Senate voted 71-28 and the House voted 240-186 to approve the...more
Congress moved one step closer to avoiding a government shutdown on Feb. 6, voting overwhelmingly (245-182) to pass a short-term, GOP-backed government funding bill (text; section-by-section) that would keep the federal...more
On January 8, 2018, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) issued a rule entitled, Reimbursement for Emergency Treatment. The VA revised its regulations concerning payment or reimbursement for emergency treatment for...more
On January 9, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new voluntary bundled-payment demonstration program, also known as Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Advanced. The new model will test...more
Happy New Year!?! 2017 was an eventful year for health care, and now we can all sit back and relax with very little concern that major health policy will be on the table in 2018. Right? Why must Speaker Ryan ruin our...more
On November 2, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule implementing policies for Year 2 (2018) of the Quality Payment Program established under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization...more
On November 15, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) announced a bipartisan agreement on Medicare "extenders," Medicare programs and payment policies that have...more
Following House passage of a CHIP reauthorization package, the bill heads to the Senate where it faces an uncertain path forward. First, there’s no indication the Senate is ready to give the House package real consideration....more
US-CERT Warns of New Ransomware: Bad Rabbit - The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is warning companies in the U.S. about a new ransomware dubbed “Bad Rabbit.” US-CERT stated it has received multiple...more
As the calendar turns to November, pressure continues to grow in Congress to pass a CHIP package. The relevant House and Senate committees each passed different versions of CHIP, and finding payfors continue to be the main...more
As a part of our ongoing blog series we have provided details on the structure, funding, and outlook of several expiring health care provisions, that we’ve referred to as the health care minibus. The minibus includes all of...more
In this memorandum, Holland & Knight's Healthcare & Life Sciences Team summarizes recent legislative action on funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy...more
With the FY2017 reconciliation instructions behind us, we look ahead to what is left in store for health care between now and the end of the calendar year. While Secretary Price’s departure was expected, what he leaves behind...more
Over the past month, we provided additional details on the structure, funding, and evaluation of the Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood, Home Visiting (MIECHV) program and Medicare Therapy Caps. In this post we will go into...more
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule last week regarding the cancellation of three bundled payment models and an incentive payment model while also reducing the scope of a third...more
In a recent post, we provided additional details on the structure, funding, and evaluation of the Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood, Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. In this post we will go into detail on the background and...more