After Nebraskans cast their vote for Medicaid expansion in 2018, the state is finally expanding coverage to more residents. As part of the state’s rollout, it split its expanded Medicaid plans into two tiers, with work and other requirements to access dental and vision coverage.
A Congressional investigation found that outside consultants billed CMS nearly $6 million in less than two years. The expenditures, which included setting up interviews with CMS Administrator Seema Verma, were found by a previous Inspector General audit to violate federal contracting requirements.
Executives from Imagine360, Verily, BrightInsight, Lantern, and Rhapsody shared their approaches to reducing healthcare costs and facilitating digital transformation.
Hospitals and health IT vendors will have some extra time to come into compliance with new interoperability rules published by the Department of Health and Human Services in March. The agency is giving them an extension in light of the pandemic.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued new guidance for healthcare providers to cancel elective procedures. CMS said the measures are intended to maintain the supply of personal protective equipment and ICU beds as healthcare providers grapple with Covid-19.
CMS Administrator Seema Verma unveiled a new demonstration policy that would allow states to pay for Medicaid expansion using block grants. But experts were unsure how many states would opt into them, with possible financial and legal challenges ahead.
CMS released a new policy Thursday that would allow states to fund Medicaid expansion through block grants. Patient advocacy groups raised concerns that the policy could limit enrollment or reduce benefits in states that adopt it.
The future looks bright for the integrated specialty pharmacy model – for health systems, providers, and most importantly, for patients.
More than 8.3 million people enrolled through the federal ACA exchanges for 2020, down just 2.4 percent from 2019.
Advocates for the poor argue work requirement policies are illegal and unfairly add hurdles to people who qualify for coverage in the federal-state health program.
Rolling out the ratings nationwide is part of the Trump Administration's larger initiative to inject cost and quality transparency into the healthcare system.
According to data from CMS, while dual-eligible patients make up only 15 percent of Medicaid enrollees, they are responsible for 33 percent of the program's expenditures.
As technology advances, AI-powered tools will increasingly reduce the administrative burdens on healthcare providers.
The report projects that the Hospital Insurance Trust fund, which pays out for beneficiaries' inpatient hospital care is set to start running out of money by 2026 in which it will only be able to afford 89 percent of its total cost.
Dubbed the CMS Primary Cares Initiative, the program aims to reduce administrative burden for providers, while incentivizing clinicians to spend more time with patients and focus on preventive care.
The new rule, which will go into effect in the 2020 plan year, will allow Medicare Advantage to offer telehealth services as part of their basic benefits, providing patients more options to receive healthcare services from locations like their home.
The policy change builds on previous efforts by CMS to encourage better management and maintenance of health by allowing increased flexibility for plan dollars to pay for services like adult care programs and the installation of home safety devices.
While the policy has not yet gone into effect in Kentucky, data from the Arkansas Department of Human Services found that more than 18,000 people in the state have lost coverage due to the work requirements that were first introduced last year.