Last week, CHA sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly addressing the patchwork of testing policies across jurisdictions in California. The lack of uniform policies has created confusion for providers, avoidable utilization of scarce testing supplies, and uneven reimbursement practices.
As CHA reported last week, a U.S. district court on July 29 issued a nationwide injunction preventing the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing the “public charge” federal regulations that became effective last August. However, last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s order.
CHA is advocating that Congress include a ‘reset’ of the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act in the next COVID-19 relief package. In a letter to Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, CHA reaffirms support for the act's goals, including the ongoing implementation of standardized patient assessment data elements and numerous new quality, outcome, and resource use measures.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued the final rule for the federal fiscal year 2021 skilled-nursing facility (SNF) prospective payment system (PPS). In the final rule, CMS finalizes a 2.2% increase in SNF PPS per diem rates of 2.2%, modifies ICD-10 code mappings for patient classification, and makes updates to the SNF value-based program, the patient driven payment model case-mix methodology, and the SNF quality reporting program.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued the following updates this week:
HHS Issues Report on Addressing Surprise Billing
Nursing Home Compare Quarterly Refresh with Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program Data
Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program Hardship Exception Applications Due Sept. 1
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued its calendar year (CY) 2021 physician fee schedule (PFS) proposed rule. In addition to addressing annual payment updates for Medicare Part B clinicians and changes to the quality payment program, CMS includes several proposals to make certain COVID-19 telehealth and scope of practice flexibilities permanent, and delays clinical laboratory reporting requirements – including for hospital outreach laboratories – until 2022.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued its calendar year (CY) 2021 outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) proposed rule. In addition to annual payment and quality updates, CMS proposes significant cuts for drugs purchased under the 340B drug savings program, would eliminate the inpatient-only (IPO) list over three years, expand the list of outpatient services subject to prior authorization, and make significant changes to the hospital star ratings methodology.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued its federal fiscal year (FFY) 2021 inpatient psychiatric facility (IPF) prospective payment system (PPS) final rule. CMS finalized an overall payment increase of 2.3% — approximately $95 million — for IPFs, compared to FFY 2020.
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
In the midst of COVID-19, the legislative session moves on. This has been a significant week for bills important to hospitals in California’s Legislature, as several continued or completed their political journey.
First, the bad news:
On July 31, CHA sent a letter to Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), voicing support for the Protecting Access to Post-COVID–19 Telehealth Act of 2020 (H.R. 7663). The bill would remove long-standing barriers to telehealth services and improve access to care for not just Californians but patients across the country.
