Reimbursement
Beyond cost, CMS said it adopted the lower payments for hospital outpatient facilities as a method to control unnecessary increases in the volume of services furnished there.
The AHA is calling on CMS to "abandon further illegal cuts for 2020" that CMS says would save Medicare $800 million.
The American Hospital Association is against an earlier proposal because disputes would be settled through lower reimbursement benchmark rates.
As the care delivery platform becomes more legitimate and accepted, governments, payers and providers are coping with the changes it will bring.
Still, a new state-by-state survey from Foley & Lardner suggests there is still plenty of ground to cover in terms of telehealth payment parity, as well as the language used in the laws themselves.
Outcomes-based pricing models are bringing transparency to the often-murky orphan drug market.
Decreased labor expenses also contributed to the strong financial performance for the month, though non-labor expenses increased.
A decrease in private payer rates without an increase in government payment would threaten the air ambulance industry, Moody's says.
Legislative proposals could reduce bad debt, but would likely introduce additional complexity to billing processes.
A proposed rule seeks to stop the numerous schemes known to CMS that states have used to circumvent federal statute.