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
CMS published its FY 2025 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) final rule on August 1, 2024. Under this final rule, CMS is implementing several changes to its Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting...more
On August 2,2024, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the vacatur of federal rulemaking related to the No Surprises Act’s (NSA) Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process. The Court held that the No Surprises Act does not permit the...more
On July 30, 2024, CMS issued (CMS-1810-F), its final rule updating the Medicare hospice payment rates and aggregate cap amount for fiscal year (FY) 2025 (the Final Rule). Highlights of the Final Rule are below....more
On July 31, 2024, CMS issued a final rule (the Final Rule) for fiscal year (FY) 2025 updating Medicare payment policies and rates for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) under the SNF Prospective Payment System (PPS). Under the...more
On August 1, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) final update for fiscal year (FY) 2025, along with proposed policy and regulation changes....more
Previously, we discussed how the US Supreme Court’s opinion in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce could create opportunities for private litigants to challenge health...more
Within its proposed CY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) rule (the Proposed Rule), CMS is proposing to implement new payment policies intended to advance health equity and support whole-person care. CMS expects these new...more
On July 10, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Calendar Year (CY) 2025 Revisions to Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and Other Revisions to Medicare Part B...more
On June 27, 2024, CMS issued a proposed rule updating payment rates and policies under the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for renal dialysis services provided to Medicare beneficiaries on or...more
CMS estimates that between 2017 and 2021, Medicare Part A improperly paid $23.9 billion for inpatient hospital stays, with $7.8 billion attributable to short stays that did not qualify for Medicare Part A. On June 13, 2024,...more
Split (or shared) visits—the current term used by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)—allow non-physician practitioners (NPPs) and physicians who work for the same employer/entity to share patient visits on the...more
The upcoming election, and the approaching end of the President’s four-year term, introduce additional dynamics into the agencies’ rulemaking process and even the guidance process. From now through the November election, the...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
On April 10, 2024, CMS issued its annual Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System (PPS) Proposed Rule for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 (the Proposed Rule). In...more
Senate HELP Committee Holds Field Hearing on Private Equity. In the hearing, held at the Massachusetts State House, members discussed the impact of private equity ownership on patients, providers, quality of care and...more
Today marks one month since United Health Group’s (UHG) Change Healthcare reported that it had been hit by a cybersecurity attack. The attack has caused a major disruption to the US healthcare system, significantly impacting...more
Change Healthcare, an affiliate of Optum and UnitedHealth Group, processes more than 15 billion health care transactions annually and touches one of every three patient records. On February 21, Change disconnected its...more
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
Appropriations Update. As appropriators continue to finalize the 12 funding bills for fiscal year (FY) 2024 – which began on October 1, 2023 – a series of stopgap CRs have been needed to avoid a government shutdown. This...more
This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights regulatory activity for November 2023. We discuss several US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agency actions, including the new General...more
In the buffet of regs (and eggs) released a couple of weeks ago, the fried egg served up by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was the 340B Remedy Final Reg. Unlike the other final regs that will affect...more
In recent years, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has expanded payment for remote monitoring services in an effort to pay for non-face-to-face services that improve care coordination for Medicare...more
On Wednesday, November 1, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update final rule for CY 2024 (the Final Rule). The Rule estimates that the aggregate...more
On October 27, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) Calendar Year (CY) 2024 final rule (CMS-1782-F). The rule finalizes minimal...more
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