CMS Announces Payment Cuts For Failure to Meet Meaningful Use Requirements
As reported by the Wall Street Journal this week (http://www.wsj.com/articles/medicare-to-cut-payments-to-some-1418955589), approximately 257,000 health care providers (most of them physicians) will be receiving notifications from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that the rates that they paid under both Medicare and Medicaid will be reduced by 1% in 2015. The reduction is being imposed because […]
SGR Patch
Both the House and the Senate have now passed a temporary patch to the Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”) for the next year. See our prior blog as to the action, which also defers the implementation of IDC-10 for a year. It is expected that the White House will sign the extension. In anticipation, CMS has […]
Sustainable Growth Rate – Here We Go Again!
As pointed out in our prior blogs, it appeared that there was not sufficient time to permanently resolve the Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”) issue. To the consternation of the AMA, it now appears that both Houses will defer resolution. However, it appears that the House version will not be a clean bill but will also […]
Sustainable Growth Rate Update
The AMA forwarded the attached letter (http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/washington/medicare-sgr-letter-to-senate-leadership-18march2014.pdf) in regard to the sustainable growth rate to both the House and the Senate. It now appears that the best that will happen before March 31st is a temporary fix extending the delay while members of Congress work out a resolution. While there appears to be an agreement […]
Follow Up on Sustainable Growth Rate
The House by a vote of 237 to 182 today passed legislation permanently repealing and replacing the Sustainable Growth Rate requirement. The Bill now goes to the Senate. However, while both parties have agreed that a repeal is essential and to some extent have agreed on the replacement, the funding mechanism set forth in the […]
Advanced Practice Nurses
The Federal Trade Commission this month (March 2014) issued its policy analysis in regard to the regulation of Advanced Practice Nurses and competition issues which may arise through the regulation of their practice. This report can be accessed at http://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/policy-perspectives-competition-regulation-advanced-practice-nurses/140307aprnpolicypaper.pdf. The report’s table of contents clearly sets forth where the FTC is going. That table […]
Lawsuit Challenges Exchange Distinctions
There is a lawsuit pending, in the District of Columbia, challenging the ability of the federal government to provide a subsidy under the Affordable Care Act in those cases in which the individual is enrolling pursuant to a federal exchange. This lawsuit is based upon the fact that the language of the statute provides that […]
Affordable Care Act Requirement For Medium Sized Employers Delayed Again
Businesses employing 50-100 employees have received yet another reprieve from the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. Enforcement of the Affordable Care Act provision requiring employers of 50-100 employees to offer healthcare to full-time employees has been pushed back to January 1, 2016. This is the second time the requirement was postponed. The health care […]
It Looks Like 2014 Will Fulfill The Chinese Curse: “May You Live In Interesting Times.”
Providers enter 2014 with a background of 5,000,000 policies being cancelled as of December 31, 2013. One million individuals potentially signed up under the exchanges, however, it is not clear how much of that information has been appropriately transferred to the insurance companies and whether or not the insurance companies have activated those policies by receiving […]
CONFUSION
Obviously events in the Affordable Care Act area are breaking fairly quickly. As you may or may not be aware, the Administration has asked the insurance companies to provide insurance for those individuals who pay for their insurance coverage by January 10th. It is my understanding that certain carriers are willing to accept the January […]
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