The CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization Rules
Podcast — Drug Pricing: How Are Payers Responding to the IRA?
Findings from Gibbins’ Annual Healthcare Bankruptcy Report
A Fond Farewell: Musings on the End of the Medicare Advantage Hospice Carve-In Demonstration
Video: Braidwood v. Becerra – Challenging the Affordable Care Act’s Preventive Services Coverage Provision – Thought Leaders in Health Law
Hospice and Home Health Survey Perspectives: A Conversation with Kim Skehan, VP of Accreditation at CHAP
Transparency and the Open Payments Program
Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Video Podcast | Episode 173: Improving rural health care with Dr. Kevin Bennett, the Director of the Research Center for Transforming Health and the
Counsel That Cares - The Private Payer's Perspective on Value-Based Care
Podcast: Health Equity – Behind the Buzzwords – Diagnosing Health Care
A Very “Special” Episode: Amid Controversy, CMS Launches the Hospice Special Focus Program
Grace from CMS: Unexpected Good News on HIS and CAHPS Appeals
This Bandwagon Has a Broken Wheel: OIG Joins the Inconsistent Approach to Hospice GIP Claims
Behind the Curtain: Enhanced Provider Enrollment Oversight
Survey Woes: CMS Ramps Up Hospice Survey Program and Consequences
Inflation Reduction Act’s Drug Price Negotiation Provisions – What Now? – Diagnosing Health Care Podcast
A Glimpse Into the Other Side: Understanding the Perspective of Government Enforcers
I Understood There Would Be No Math: Audits, Extrapolations, and a New Set of Rules
Podcast: Inflation Reduction Act’s Drug Price Negotiation Provisions – What’s Next? - Diagnosing Health Care
Quick Takeaways From the 2024 Proposed Hospice Wage Index Rule
On August 15, 2024, CMS announced the results of the first round of the negotiated prices between CMS and participating drug manufacturers for the 10 selected drugs under the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Medicare Drug...more
CMS Finalizes New TCET Pathway. The final procedural notice, effective immediately, creates a new pathway that uses existing national coverage determination and coverage with evidence development (CED) processes to expedite...more
This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights regulatory activity for June 2024. We discuss several US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agency actions, including guidance regarding hospital...more
Executive Summary- The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) makes significant changes to the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit and also directs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to enforce...more
House Ways & Means Committee Marks Up Telehealth and More. The bills considered in the markup support expanding access to telehealth as well as access to healthcare in rural areas. All six bills passed out of the committee,...more
House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Cybersecurity. During the hearing, there was bipartisan concern about UnitedHealth Group’s response to the Change Healthcare cyberattack and consensus around the...more
Appropriations Update. On March 3, Congress released bill text for the CAA, 2024, which includes funding for six of the 12 appropriations bills: Agriculture-FDA, Military Construction-VA, Energy-Water, Transportation-HUD,...more
Last week, McDermott+Consulting launched an election 2024 resource page, where you can find a 2024 health policy outlook and other insights into the November election. While regulations aren’t necessarily top-of-mind when...more
In November 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule, “Medicare Program; Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System: Remedy for the 340B-Acquired Drug Payment Policy for Calendar...more
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
House Passes Healthcare Legislation. The House brought two key bipartisan healthcare bills to the floor this week. The Lower Costs, More Transparency Act (H.R. 5378) was approved by a vote of 320–71, and the Support for...more
Senate Finance Committee Examines Drug Shortages. The hearing addressed concerns and explored potential solutions related to drug shortages in the United States, particularly focusing on essential medications. The hearing...more
On November 2, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the rule Medicare Program; Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System: Remedy for the Calendar Years 2018–2022 to addresses how the...more
On October 18, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a Request for Information (RFI) to conduct market research regarding the “availability and potential technical ability of health-care related...more
CONGRESS - House Republicans Release Healthcare Package. On September 6, House Republicans unveiled the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, a draft package of healthcare transparency provisions, pharmacy benefit manager...more
In 2024, Medicare will, for the first time, have authority under the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022 to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers. On August 29, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid...more
On August 29, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the ten (10) Medicare Part D drugs selected for the first round of negotiations of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program (Program)—a few...more
August 31, 2023 – When it comes to prescription drug costs, policymakers have set their focus on the consumer: “Let’s lower drug prices for the consumer.” “Let’s give consumers more options in paying their out-of-pocket...more
This week marks the one-year anniversary since the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which included sweeping reforms empowering the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to set prices for certain...more
On July 7, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule to implement a remedy in response to last year’s Supreme Court decision finding the Medicare Part B payment policy for hospitals in the 340B...more
This month, pharmaceutical manufacturer, Merck & Co., Inc. (“Merck”), as well as four chambers of commerce, have filed suits against the federal government, arguing that the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program introduced...more
On May 12, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Draft Guidance on the Part D Manufacturer Discount Program (“Discount Program”)—a key component of the Part D Redesign provisions of the Inflation...more
The Inflation Reduction Act (the “IRA”) requires drug manufacturers to pay rebates to Medicare when the prices of their Part B and Part D prescription drug increase faster than the rate of inflation. We recently discussed the...more
On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). The drug pricing provisions in Subtitle B of Title I of the IRA, entitled “Prescription Drug Pricing Reform,” enact government...more
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), P.L. 117-169, which became law on August 16th, included some of the most consequential prescription drug pricing reforms ever passed by Congress. This week marked a pivotal milestone in the...more