Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held the second annual CMS Health Equity Conference. The event drew several hundred in-person attendees, including my colleague Kayla Holgash, and thousands of...more
6/6/2024
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ,
Digital Health ,
Equity ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) ,
Medicaid ,
Mental Health ,
Professional Conferences ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Substance Abuse
A couple of weeks ago, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an important report that provides insight into a significant contributor of clinicians’ overall Medicare reimbursement for this year....more
Over the last several weeks, the Biden administration has released numerous final regulations in order to “beat the clock” before it ticks down to the Congressional Review Act (CRA) deadline. The CRA authorizes Congress to...more
5/9/2024
/ Affordable Care Act ,
American Health Care Act (AHCA) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Clinical Laboratory Testing ,
DACA ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Laboratory Developed Tests ,
Life Sciences ,
Managed Care Contracts ,
Medicaid ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Nursing Homes ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Senate Committees ,
U.S. House
On April 22, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Managed Care Access, Finance, and Quality final rule. CMS finalized several substantial...more
During this election year, McDermottPlus is actively monitoring annual regulations that federal agencies are expected to release, as well as “ad hoc” regulations that will be released at the discretion of federal agencies. ...more
4/26/2024
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
DEA ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Department of Veterans Affairs ,
Employee Benefits ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
New Regulations ,
OCR ,
OIG ,
OSHA ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform
Last Sunday, Congress released the text of a minibus package, which will likely be signed into law by tomorrow. While the bill’s primary purpose is to keep the government open, it also includes healthcare extenders through...more
3/7/2024
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Congressional Committees ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare Advantage ,
New Legislation ,
New Regulations ,
Payment Systems ,
Regulatory Agenda
Happy New Year! As we enter 2024, we want to lay out some of the main regulatory issues (both new and old) that McDermott+Consulting will be tracking over the next year. While these may evolve, we think they are still...more
1/4/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
CARES Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Laboratory Developed Tests ,
Managed Care Contracts ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
MIPS ,
No Surprises Act (NSA) ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine
As 2023 comes to a close, I can’t help but reflect on all the regulations and policies we reviewed this year (and those that we’ll continue to handle next week before the year actually ends). There were some tasty eggs with...more
12/21/2023
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
No Surprises Act (NSA) ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Telehealth
As we continue to “unwind” from the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), we are still very much in a transition period. Many of the policies that beneficiaries, providers, plans and states came to rely on during the...more
If you have been following the implementation of the No Surprises Act independent dispute resolution (IDR) process, you have likely seen a bunch of new rules, guidance documents and deadline extensions come out recently and...more
12/7/2023
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Deadlines ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
New Regulations ,
New Rules ,
No Surprises Act (NSA) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Time Extensions
It’s Thanksgiving week, so instead of eating eggs with your regs, you should sit back, relax and reflect on the regs you are thankful for as you eat your turkey legs (or whatever you enjoy on Thanksgiving). Many of the...more
11/21/2023
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Digital Health ,
Final Rules ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) ,
Medicare ,
Mental Health ,
New Legislation ,
New Regulations ,
No Surprises Act (NSA) ,
Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Telehealth
On October 27, 2023, the US Departments of Health and Humans Services, Labor and the Treasury (the Departments), along with the Office of Personnel Management, issued a proposed rule titled Independent Dispute Resolution...more
11/1/2023
/ Billing ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Fees ,
No Surprises Act (NSA) ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
U.S. Treasury
Sharpen your pencils and locate your reading glasses: the final Medicare payment regulations for calendar year (CY) 2024 will be released within the next week.
In the last Regs & Eggs blog post, I discussed a major issue...more
10/26/2023
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hospitals ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Part B ,
Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) ,
Outpatient Services ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Price Transparency ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Section 340B
The bumpy road toward implementing the No Surprises Act took another turn last Friday, October 6, 2023. The US Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor and the Treasury (collectively, the Departments) provided...more
10/12/2023
/ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
No Surprises Act (NSA) ,
Out-of-Pocket Expenses ,
Payment Systems ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
U.S. Treasury
Passing the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund the federal government for the next fiscal year (which starts on October 1), or enacting a stopgap continuing resolution in the interim, seems to come down to the wire...more
9/28/2023
/ Appropriations Bill ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
CMMI ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Federal Budget ,
Government Shutdown ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
MIPS ,
OMB ,
Payment Systems ,
Regulatory Agenda
It’s likely no surprise to anyone who has been following the implementation of the No Surprises Act over the last couple of years that we again find ourselves on an uncertain path. While Regs & Eggs has focused on some of the...more
8/22/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Billing ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
New Legislation ,
No Surprises Act (NSA) ,
Payment Systems ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Texas ,
U.S. Treasury