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CMS Seeks Information on Direct Provider Contracting

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week issued the attached request for information on a potential alternative payment model that would allow direct provider contracting between payers and primary care or multi-specialty groups within the Medicare fee-for-service, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid programs. The model would differ from existing primary care models, allowing practices to take on two-sided financial risk. Under the potential model, CMS would pay a fixed per-beneficiary, per-month payment to cover a range of services, allowing flexibility in the delivery of other billable services. Practices would also be eligible for performance-based incentives for total cost of care and quality. CMS seeks comments on provider experience with direct provider contracting and how this model could be used to reduce expenditures and preserve or enhance the quality of care for Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program beneficiaries. Comments are due May 25.

Emergency Department Toolkit

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Special resource toolkit developed by CHA’s EMS/Trauma Committee and the Center for Behavioral Health.  Designed to help staff provide support to patients in the ED with psychosis and/or substance abuse disorders, this toolkit provides access to articles, policies, management techniques, assessment tools and more. Click the topic tabs below to access resources and information.

CMS Proposes Regulation to Alleviate State Burden

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a proposed rule that would provide states with greater flexibility in how they meet access to care requirements within the Medicaid program.

The proposed rule addresses concerns associated with the 2015 final rule — which CHA commented on — that requires states proposing to reduce or restructure Medicaid fee-for-service payment rates to collect data through an Access Monitoring Review Plan and solicit input on the potential impact on beneficiaries’ access to care. 

CMS proposes to exempt states with an overall Medicaid managed care penetration rate of 85 percent or greater from most fee-for-service access monitoring requirements; California’s current Medi-Cal managed care penetration rate is 80 percent.

CHA DataSuite Releases Medicare Cost Report Model Update

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CHA DataSuite has issued the fourth quarter 2017 update of the Medicare cost report model, which provides hospitals with commonly sought after data elements from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Healthcare Cost Report Information System database. The model highlights hospital utilization data, inpatient and outpatient data, overall hospital statistics and uncompensated care data.

Worksheets include:

S-3 Part I – utilization data
S-10 – uncompensated care data
G-3 – overall revenue and expense data
E Part A – hospital inpatient data
E Part B – hospital outpatient data
E-3 Part V – critical access hospital inpatient services data
E-4 – hospital direct graduate medical education and end stage renal disease outpatient direct medical education data

CMS Seeks Comments on Clinical Laboratory Personnel Requirements

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued the attached request for information on updating personnel requirements, testing standards and industry fee structures under the clinical laboratory improvement amendments. Among the personnel requirements listed, CMS seeks comment on whether it should codify in regulations the current guidance that a bachelor’s degree in nursing is considered equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences for the purposes of educational requirements for moderate and high-complexity testing personnel under the clinical laboratory improvement amendments.

CMS notes that these regulations have not been meaningfully updated since 1992. The topics listed in the request for information are areas that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state agency surveyors and other stakeholders have identified as needing to be updated to better reflect current knowledge and advancements in laboratory testing. CMS intends to consider public responses to the request for information when it drafts proposals to update the existing regulations. Comments are due March 12.

CHA Releases Draft Model of 2017-19 Hospital Fee Program

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As reported in CHA News last week, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) recently sent hospitals invoices covering the first six fee-for-service cycles of the 2017-19 Hospital Fee Program. The attached draft model incorporates those invoiced amounts, as well as the supplemental fee-for-service payment amounts approved last month by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) services. Notably, the “Gain.Contribute” tab in the model includes a summary, by state fiscal year, of the estimated fee and payment amounts for the 30-month program period. CHA is in the process of creating hospital-specific fee and payment schedules, which will be distributed within the next week.  

Hospitals Must Respond to Hospital Fee Program Survey by Feb. 9

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Last week, the Department of Health Care Services Disproportionate Share Hospital Unit emailed a survey to private hospitals that participate in the hospital fee program. The Calendar Year 2016 Quality Assurance Fee Survey seeks information related to hospital fees and payments during calendar year 2016 of the hospital fee program; results will be used to calculate Medi-Cal disproportionate share hospital payments for state fiscal year 2018-19. If a hospital fails to respond to the survey by Feb. 9, the department will use internal data to estimate the fees and payments from the hospital fee program, which may impact eligibility or payment amounts.

CMS Announces Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced Model

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the creation of a new voluntary advanced alternative payment model called Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced). Under the BPCI Advanced model, participants will take on financial risk for a 90-day clinical episode with a single retrospective bundled payment. CMS has determined the model qualifies as an advanced alternative payment model under the requirements of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act for the purposes of payment incentives under the physician Quality Payment Program. The attached request for applications includes additional information on the model, and CMS will hold an open door forum with a question and answer session on Jan. 30 from 9-10 a.m. (PT). Registration is open on CMS’ website.

CHA Provides Update on 2017-19 Hospital Fee Program

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As reported in CHA News last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved the supplemental fee-for-service payments and overall tax structure of the 2017-19 hospital fee program. CHA is working with the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to update the draft model so hospital-specific implementation schedules can be distributed by the end of this month. DHCS expects the first round of invoices will be sent to hospitals within the next month, with a due date in late February. As soon as the exact timing is finalized, CHA will notify members via CHA News.

Now that the fee-for-service component of the program has been approved, DHCS has turned its attention to the managed care components of the program. As previously reported in CHA News, the new federal Medicaid managed care rules require significant changes to how supplemental Medi-Cal managed care payments are made through the hospital fee program. Effective July 1, 2017, roughly half of the supplemental Medi-Cal managed care payments must be transitioned to a directed payment methodology. Under the directed payment method, supplemental payments can be made only to network providers based on utilization in the encounter data file from the current rate year.