Policy and Legislation
Donald Trump on Tuesday night said the top three priorities of the federal government are national security, healthcare, and education.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday said it will test a new payment model that would align reimbursement rates for comprehensive assessments done at skilled nursing facilities with rates already paid to hospitals.
Republican committee leaders in the Senate and House are taking Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services acting Administrator Andy Slavitt to task for 316 security incidents on HealthCare.gov.
Because more than 80 percent of consumers go to Google to find a doctor, and much of that information is inaccurate, America's Health Insurance Plans has initiated a first-of-its-kind provider directory, AHIP announced on Tuesday.
The National Quality Forum has published its guidance for the new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System. NQF's Measure Applications Partnership examined some five-dozen MIPS performance measures, proposed for implementation in 2017, from which data would be collected to track eligible providers' performance in 2019.
California's insurance exchange is threatening to cut hospitals from its networks for poor performance or high costs, a novel proposal that is drawing heavy fire from medical providers and insurers.
Over 300 healthcare and patient advocacy organizations sent a letter to Senate and House leaders on Thursday urging them to press the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to permanently withdraw a reduced Part B drug payment model from consideration.
The House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee held a bipartisan debate Wednesday over the future of Medicare and planned cuts to the Medicare Advantage program as sharp party divides over healthcare continue to widen.
Of the 3,651 new codes, 97 percent will update the cardiovascular and lower joint body systems. There will also be new codes for a face transplant, hand transplant and donor organ perfusion, CMS said.
Texas Republican Sen.Ted Cruz promised during a nighttime speech in his home state that he would kill the Affordable Care Act, "abolish" the Internal Revenue Service, stop amnesty and rebuild the military.