Physician Compensation and Reimbursement
Polsinelli Podcast - Health Care Payment Changes: From Service to Value
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its Advance Notice of Methodological Changes for Calendar Year (CY) 2025 for Medicare Advantage (MA) Capitation Rates and Part C and Part D Payment Policies on Jan....more
2022 was an eventful year on the 340B front, packed with updates to consequential litigation, proposed new rules, ongoing uncertainty into the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) underlying enforcement...more
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected today to pass legislation passed by the U.S. Senate that will significantly alter the landscape for pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement under the Medicare program for certain...more
On September 30, 2021, OIG posted Advisory Opinion No. 21-14 regarding a chiropractor’s proposal to extend an existing discount program covering a package of services to include federal health care program beneficiaries. OIG...more
On Friday, April 5, 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced that it had finalized policies allowing Medicare Advantage plans (“MA Plans”) to include additional telehealth benefits in their basic...more
• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced a new proposed reimbursement model for certain Medicare Part B drugs and biologicals. • The proposed structure, called the International Pricing Index (IPI)...more
• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published the Calendar Year (CY) 2019 Final Rule for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS), which includes provisions related to Medicare physician payments as well...more
On October 25, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) describing a potential mandatory model to test Medicare reimbursement based on an "International...more
President Trump yesterday touted “bold” plans to lower drug prices in unspecific terms. Simultaneously, CMS issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANRPM), describing options to test Medicare reimbursement based on...more
Timing is everything. In yesterday’s post on 340B, I stated in closing: There is still one more shoe to drop. On May 4, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the expedited appeal of American Hospital...more
• The new national Medicare coverage determination covers only FDA-authorized NGS tests with companion diagnostic indications, leaving NGS cancer tests without that specific indication to seek coverage from local Medicare...more
The OIG added three items to its Work Plan with the February 2018 update, as listed in the chart below. Two of the items concern annual reports, one addressing the performance of Medicaid Fraud Control Units and the other...more
On Feb. 9, 2018, the Trump Administration released a 30-page report analyzing domestic and global factors influencing drug pricing. The report by the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is expected to inform the HHS' Fiscal...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
On November 2, 2017, CMS issued the final rule with comment for the second year (2018) of the Quality Payment Program as well as an interim final rule. Continuing with its theme of a CMS that is “listening to feedback,” CMS...more
On November 2, 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2018 Quality Payment Program (QPP) Final Rule. The Final Rule contains notable changes that may affect smaller practices participating in...more
On November 1, 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a final rule updating the Medicare hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (“OPPS”) for the calendar year 2018. As part of this update,...more
On November 1, 2017, CMS announced that it is in fact cutting Medicare Part B reimbursement for 340B drugs to the tune of $1.6 billion. To be accurate, what CMS announced is its intent to finalize proposed rule changes to the...more
In March, I posted about the Uncertain Future of the 340B Drug Discount Program. When opining about What Could Happen Next I speculated about possible changes to government reimbursement for 340B drugs “so that government...more
Last week, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (the “Commission”) debated a package of policy reforms that would change the way Medicare reimburses physicians for Medicare Part B drugs. In the midst of calls to lower...more
MACRA (the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015) is bi-partisan legislation that was enacted to change Medicare reimbursement from being based on the current system of volume of services provided to...more
On Oct. 14, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule with comment period implementing the bipartisan Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The nearly 2,400 pages of...more
Significant changes to the Medicare payment system are underway. The Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) is set to take effect January 1, 2017. MACRA represents a deliberate departure by the...more
I. REGULATIONS, NOTICES, & GUIDANCE - On April 21, 2016, CMS issued a proposed rule entitled, “Medicare Program: FY 2017 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Requirements.” This...more
I. REGULATIONS, NOTICES, & GUIDANCE - On March 8, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule entitled, “Medicare Program; Part B Drug Payment Model.” The proposed rule seeks...more