March 26, 2018 HHS Defends 340B Regulation that Cuts Payments In court filings last week, HHS argued that its 28.5 percent 340B drug payment reductions in the outpatient payment rule “were justified by developments in the market” due to the program's over-expansion. Additionally, HHS stated that it already...
March 19, 2018 (NOTE: The federal government shuts down Friday, March 23, unless Congress reaches a final 2018 spending deal. House legislation for an Omnibus spending bill is expected to be released for public review on Monday, March 19. Click here for a news summary explaining...
March 5, 2018 Healthgrades Awards Best 50 and 100 Hospitals for 2018 Hospitals from 28 states made Healthgrades Top Hospitals list this year. Healthgrades last week released America’s 50 and 100 Best Hospitals™ for 2018. The recipients, which represent the top 1% and 2% of hospitals in the...
February 26, 2018 Hospitals Inflate Outpatient Oncology Treatment Costs: New Report A new report published in the American Journal of Managed Care shows that large-scale medical centers inflated outpatient oncology treatment costs substantially above what Medicare typically pays, and their markups vary anywhere from three to six...
February 19, 2018 HHS Secretary Says MIPS Could Be Eliminated The new HHS Secretary, Alex Azar, said last week the agency is looking into whether the MIPS reporting requirements can be eliminated altogether. Click here. Just a few weeks ago, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted to...
February 12, 2018 White House Targets 340B in FY19 Budget The Trump administration on Monday is officially moving ahead to fiscal 2019. Expected to be included in the the FY19 budget proposal are changes to the 340B pharmaceutical discount program, as well as other changes designed to...
February 5, 2018 Government Runs Out of Money Friday; More CHIP, Extenders, Health Centers May Be in New Deal The House has announced that they in intend to vote on the next Continuing Resolution before the end of this week, with an intent to keep the government...
250 Hospitals Receive Healthgrades' Top Clinical Excellence Awards Healthgrades has released its Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence awards for hospitals rated in the top 5% in the nation with the lowest risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates across at least 21 of 32 common conditions and procedures....
Federal Government Shutdown Continues; No Immediate Impact on Medicare, Medicaid Federal government funding ended at midnight on Saturday; however there will likely be little disruption to Medicare and Medicaid payments for a while. CMS' other non-discretionary activities also will continue, the agency said in a notice released...
Government Funding Ends Friday; CHIP, Extenders, 340B Hang in the Balance The federal government runs out of money Friday and there is certainly a chance Congress won't be able to come to terms by then; however, late last week there were signs that another short term...