The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission generally supported a draft recommendation to reform Medicare Advantage benchmarks, as staff stood by their conviction that the current system pushed up MA costs compared to fee-for-service Medicare.
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A federal court in Maryland on Thursday (March 4) agreed with several cities that a number of policies finalized in the Trump administration’s 2019 exchange rule violate federal law, and vacated provisions related to network adequacy, standardized options, income verification and medical loss ratio.
FDA on Friday (March 5) granted emergency use authorization to the first non-prescription molecular COVID-19 test for at-home use.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission generally supported a draft recommendation to reform Medicare Advantage benchmarks, as staff stood by their conviction that the current system pushed up MA costs compared to fee-for-service Medicare.
CMS is crafting an action plan aimed at better aligning quality measures across the agency, federal programs and private payers, Michelle Block Schreiber, director of the Quality Measurement & Value Based Incentives Group at CMS, said at the agency’s Quality Conference Wednesday (March 3).
Every member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission said Friday (March 5) they support recommendations that Medicare Part B cover all vaccines, without cost sharing for preventive vaccines, and that Medicare pay doctors 103% of wholesale acquisition cost to administer preventive vaccines, although they have yet to vote on the proposals.
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission staff found that rural beneficiaries have a harder time accessing specialty care than do urban beneficiaries, though the two groups reported similar satisfaction with overall care, and that a decline in inpatient admissions preceded rural hospital closures.
Congress’ Medicare pay advisors generally favored telling HHS to pare down the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s collection of demonstrations and focus on a smaller number of more coordinated models -- though Chair Michael Chernew said the commission has a lot of work to do on alternative payment models.
Congress’ investigative arm warned Wednesday (March 3) that FDA needs to prepare for a large backlog of foreign inspections in future years due to its decision to stop onsite reviews during the pandemic and rely on alternative inspection options, and it asked FDA to study whether the alternative tools have worked in place of traditional inspections.
Insurers are working to get 2 million vulnerable seniors COVID-19 vaccines as part of a new Vaccine Community Connectors pilot that was praised by White House COVID-19 Response Senior Advisor Andy Slavitt Wednesday (March 3).
HHS Secretary-nominee Xavier Becerra committed, if confirmed, to look into the disproportionate effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on nursing home residents and to expand data collection to better track demographic trends from the virus on congregate living settings, but in his response to written questions from Senate Finance Committee members he was vague on how he would work to lessen the impact of private equity ownership on nursing homes.
Congressional Medicaid advisers said Thursday (March 4) that next month they will vote on a recommendation to hike Medicaid rebates on drugs that receive accelerated FDA approvals.
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The National Kidney Foundation this week cheered introduction of bipartisan legislation that aims to protect living organ donors by banning life and long-term insurers from denying them coverage.
State and local governments were set to receive $350 billion under the House-passed American Rescue Plan, but the updated version of the pandemic relief bill moving through the Senate would reduce the funding for local governments by $10 billion to pay for increased broadband access and split that relief into two funding pots released a year apart.
The COVID-19 pandemic has overshadowed policymakers’ attention to the opioid and substance use disorder crisis, stakeholders say, but provisions included in COVID-19 relief legislation are a good start in recognizing the connection between the two public health emergencies.
Former Obama administration health staffer and Affordable Care Act architect Elizabeth Fowler officially took the helm of CMS’ powerful Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Tuesday (March 2), shortly after the innovation center put the Trump-era's Geographic Direct Contracting model on hold and stakeholders proposed ways for the center to revamp the Radiation Oncology demo.
Covering the hottest new health policy debate in Washington -- in-depth reporting on the surging efforts to tackle social, racial and economic barriers to equitable health care.
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