The story is familiar by now: The adoption of hotly debated legislation dramatically increases healthcare access for millions of Americans and the nation’s healthcare workforce is challenged in accommodating the surge, especially in rural areas. But this wasn’t the Affordable Care Act. The year was 1965 and the legislation in question was the Social Security [...] Read More
The Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA) held a virtual meeting on Friday, September 23. Participants included representatives from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and a variety of industry stakeholders. The agenda and full list of speakers can be found here. CMS Update: More Information to Come Soon [...] Read More
It’s an axiom of healthcare administration: medical inflation outpaces the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). And figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures have typically borne this out. In the decade from 2011 to 2020, there was only one year—2017—in which medical inflation was not greater than the CPI-U [...] Read More
Passed with bipartisan support, signed into law by President Trump, and implemented under the Biden administration, the No Surprises Act (NSA) might seem to have the hallmarks of successful political compromise. In fact, as the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury have released interim final rules and final rules for the Act, [...] Read More
On August 24, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held its fourth monthly webinar about the unwinding of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) flexibilities for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility. Beth Lynk, Director of the Office of Communications and Senior Advisor to the Administrator for External Affairs at [...] Read More
Among patients with diabetic foot disease, the possibility of losing a foot or leg to amputation can be more frightening than other potential complications of the disease, including heart attack, stroke, dialysis, and even death. Sadly, fear at the prospect of lower extremity amputation is not unfounded. Despite improvements in the management of some other [...] Read More
On August 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the fiscal year (FY) 2023 final Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System rule. See the press release here. CMS has provided a rule overview fact sheetand maternal health fact sheet relating to [...] Read More
The Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum hosted a distinguished panel at its July event. The discussion, which included Lisa Murdock, chief advocacy officer, American Diabetes Association; Rob Goldsmith, director, advocacy and policy, Endocrine Society; and Kate Thomas, chief advocacy and external affairs officer, Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists, addressed how the Centers for [...] Read More
On July 27, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held its third monthly webinar on unwinding the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) flexibilities for Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility. CMS will post a recording and transcript of the webinar to the CMS National Stakeholder Calls webpage. Additional resources on [...] Read More
On July 29, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the fiscal year 2023 final Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System Rate Update and Quality Reporting Requirements rule. See the fact sheet here. Changes include the following: Increases the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Part A payments by 2.7 percent; Recalibrates the SNF [...] Read More