It has been over three months since former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma resigned from her post. As of Wednesday, no one has officially filled the position’s void. The Biden administration’s pick for administrator, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, has yet to be confirmed by the Senate due to ongoing partisan disputes. For […]
Category: CMS
The Global and Professional Direct Contracting Model — a Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) creation — has been put on pause. The holdup is just another example of CMMI pumping the brakes on an alternative payment model in the days since the Biden administration took over the executive branch. Broadly, the Global and […]
The U.S. health care system has hit a defining moment in its shift toward value-based care, with the major decision in 2021 being an aggressive acceleration or cautious slowdown of the nation’s portfolio of alternative payment models. Liz Fowler, the new head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), has been thinking about […]
It has been six months since the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) gave home health agencies and other Medicare providers a reprieve from having to pay back advance and accelerated payment loans. But recoupment for these loans is just around the corner. To avoid future financial headaches, providers must be prepared to […]
After making gradual inroads over the past few years, the hospital-at-home model has seemingly had its breakthrough moment. That came in November, when the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced its “Acute Hospital Care At Home” wavier program. The creation of CMS’s wavier — a COVID-19 relief measure — has created a […]
Home health providers are one step closer to getting a continued suspension of Medicare sequestration payment reductions. The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1868 by a 246-175 vote on Friday. The bill, originally introduced earlier this month by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), pauses automatic spending cuts to Medicare and other programs for […]
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Monday that it is increasing the Medicare payment amount for administering the COVID-19 vaccine. That could lift the home health organizations that have been able to play a role in vaccinating homebound seniors throughout their communities. Not all in-home care operators have been able to […]
Federal regulators have thrown weight behind ensuring that patients have a more active role in their care transitions. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently drafted compliance guidance for hospitals on the topic. Under the guidance, OIG requires hospitals to share a list of […]
It’s been 48 days since the start of “no-pay RAPs” in home health care. During this time, providers have had to navigate a sea of challenges and unexpected speed bumps while adjusting to the new process. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) kicked off no-pay RAPs on Jan. 1 of this year. […]
In January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealed plans to expand the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model — a Medicare demonstration that aims to tie reimbursement to quality of care. While HHVBP has gained popularity within the home health industry, some experts believe there are potential downsides to scaling the […]