Earlier this week, Congress released the text of a continuing resolution that includes a more-robust-than-anticipated healthcare package. While the bill’s primary purpose is to keep the government open through March 14, 2025,...more
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
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Calendar Year (CY) 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule on Nov. 1, 2022, which impacts Medicare Part B payments starting on Jan. 1, 2023....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
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) simplified the process for clinicians and other providers to seek the Quality Payment Program (QPP) Hardship exception by releasing an online application on Aug. 2....more
In April 2015, Congress established a new framework for Medicare Part B physician payments through the passage of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (“MACRA”), which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...more
If you are a physician, mid-level provider, or work with those providers, then you have been bombarded with new acronyms for new programs and promises to remove older acronyms from your Medicare vocabulary. Medicare...more
ALERT: "No Contract" Disclaimer in Employee Handbook Upheld by Illinois CourtAuthor: Employee handbooks have long been a trap for the unwary employer that desires merely to establish a set of rules and policies without...more
On Wednesday, November 2, 2016, CMS issued a final rule (Final Rule) to update payment policies and payment rates for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on or after January 1, 2017. In the...more
CMS released the Final Rule with comment period delineating a portion of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) known as the Quality Payment Program (QPP) on October 14, 2016, with the official...more
Last Friday, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued its Final Rule implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (“MACRA”), which marks a milestone in efforts to improve and...more
The proposed Physician Fee Schedule for 2017 (PFS) includes several changes covering a litany of topics spanning from telehealth services to expanding the Diabetes Prevention Program Model. The following is a high-level...more
On May 9, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a proposed rule addressing the implementation of physician payment reforms included in the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015...more
By now, most of us have heard of accountable care organizations and bundled payment. But for many of you, the shift to value-based population health management or compensation based on performance hasn’t affected your...more
On April 16, 2015, President Obama signed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (“MACRA”). Among other things, MACRA: 1) repealed the Sustainable Growth Rate that was applicable to the Medicare Physician...more
On April 16, 2015, President Obama signed into law H.R. 2, the "Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015" (MACRA), a bipartisan effort to reform the Medicare payment policy for physician services that adopts a...more
On July 15, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published proposed regulations governing policies and payments made under the Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”) for calendar year 2016 (the “Proposed...more
On July 8, 2015, CMS issued its annual proposed rule outlining payment policies, payment rates, and quality provisions for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) for CY 2016. In the proposed rule,...more
In the proposed Medicare Physician Fee schedule (PFS) update for 2016, CMS announces a number of new policies, making changes to several of the quality reporting initiatives that are associated with PFS payment, and begins...more
On April 16, 2015, President Obama signed into law a permanent sustainable growth rate (“SGR”) fix. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (“MACRA”) eliminates the Medicare SGR methodology, which has been...more