What Happened, What You Missed: June 12-16, 2023
Health Spending to Make Up One-Fifth of US Economy National health expenditures will comprise 20% of the US economy, or $7.1 trillion, by 2031, according to the latest projections from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). While health care spending actually grew at a slower rate than the national gross domestic product (GDP) […]
What Happened, What You Missed: April 10-14, 2023
CMS Proposes 2.8% Bump for Hospital Inpatient Reimbursement Eligible hospitals could see a 2.8% increase in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, according to the recently proposed Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems (IPPS) rule. Other provisions of the rule would allow graduate medical education (GME) payments for training in rural emergency hospitals, boost reimbursements for hospitals treating unhoused […]
What Happened, What You Missed: January 9-13
Number of ACA Marketplace Enrollees Reaches Record High A record-breaking 15.9 million people have enrolled for insurance coverage on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace through January 7, according to an announcement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The new enrollment totals represent a 13% increase from the previous year. In a press release, Health […]
What Happened, What You Missed: October 31-November 4
CMS Finalizes Physician Fee Cuts for 2023 Doctors face a nearly 4.5% payment cut from Medicare under the 2023 Physician Fee Schedule, which was finalized on Tuesday. The final rule prompted strong criticism from provider organizations like the American Medical Association (AMA), who said the cuts “threaten patient access” to physicians who participate in Medicare. The final rule […]
What Happened, What You Missed: September 26-30
Medicare Part B Premiums to Decrease Next Year Medicare beneficiaries will see lower Part B premiums in 2023, according to an announcement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on September 27. The upcoming premium drop follows a spike in 2022 premiums that was largely driven by the high projected cost of the new Alzheimer’s […]
Implicit Bias Is CMMI’s Latest Problem to Tackle
Advancing health equity is one of the five strategic objectives the CMS Innovation Center (CMMI) outlined in its Strategy Refresh back in November 2021. It’s no surprise that health equity is becoming an increasingly important goal at CMMI as the Biden administration has made health equity a major priority since day one. However, CMMI has its work cut out for itself. […]
What Happened, What You Missed: May 9-13
States Regain Authority to Pay for Home Health Aides’ Insurance State Medicaid agencies can once again directly pay for independent home health aides’ benefits, according to a final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Thursday. The final rule overturns a 2019 rule that required states to pay the full Medicaid rate to home […]
Tracking CMMI’s Shift to Health Equity
Health equity is the latest focus of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), which was launched a decade ago to develop and test health care payment models with the goal of saving money for Medicare. This push for health equity goes back to the very beginning of the Biden administration when he first […]
What Happened, What You Missed: January 10-14
CMS Issues Narrow Coverage Determination for New Alzheimer’s Drug On January 11, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a national coverage determination for Alzheimer’s disease medication Aduhelm that will limit Medicare coverage to patients participating in relevant clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Biogen-developed drug last year, despite […]
What’s Changed for Open Enrollment 2022?
Open enrollment for 2022 kicked off on November 1, and it’s particularly consequential to President Joe Biden, who campaigned on building off the success of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to expand access to health care coverage. To deliver on these promises, open enrollment has undergone several key changes to make it more consumer-friendly for 2022. […]