Traditional Medicare coverage rules make up the bulk of denied services and spending compared to a Medicare Advantage plan, according to a new study in the latest Health Affairs issue. The study, led by the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University and CVS Health, relied on Medicare Advantage claims that were denied for beneficiaries enrolled with […]
States like New York, California, and Washington have laws that block interstate telehealth, while only three states allow all providers to easily practice telehealth across state lines. Though telehealth use reached new heights during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report shows that some of the states that were hit the hardest by the novel coronavirus […]
Medicare Part B spending on laboratory tests ticked up to $8 billion in 2020, driven largely by new COVID-19 diagnostics reimbursements, even while spending on other types of tests declined, according to a new report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General. In total, there was $1.5 […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will enforce its COVID-19 vaccination requirement in 25 states, the District of Columbia, and other territories, according to an update released on December 28, 2021. CMS is enjoined from enforcing its COVID-19 vaccination rule in the other 25 states, which are involved in a case challenging its […]
Break out your pen and paper because if you haven’t already started your list of new year’s resolutions, the past 12 months have given us plenty of ‘New Year, new me’ examples to take note of. From ratified legislation and appointed government officials to trending cyberthreat tactics (and binge-worthy Netflix series), there have been plenty […]
It was another tumultuous year for the revenue cycle, from the slow burn of price transparency and the fight over surprise billing, to the renewed focus on the workforce, not to mention the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Here are three issues that defined 2021 for the revenue cycle: PRICE TRANSPARENCY’S SLOW BURN For all the build-up […]
Affordable Care Act enrollment for 2022 and public payer enrollment midway through 2021 saw some record-breaking surges. In 2020 and 2021, public payer and Affordable Care Act marketplaces experienced major disruptions and changes that continue to have ripple effects. The year that the pandemic struck, Medicaid and CHIP enrollment escalated for the first time in […]
COVID-19 continued to affect the industry, which has plowed forward with expanded offerings, digital transformation and other bold moves. It was difficult to predict trend lines for the payer and health insurance industry in 2021, largely because of persistent uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer behavior has become more unpredictable, care models and […]
On November 2, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued its Calendar Year (CY) 2022 Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”) Final Rule. In this post, we sample some key highlights from the Final Rule. For more detail, take a look at our previous post, in which we highlight the PFS’s changes to the […]
New data from LAN shows modest progress with value-based reimbursement adoption in 2019 and 2020. But some programs, like Medicare Advantage, are moving to financial risk faster than others. Most healthcare payments made in 2020 were tied in some way to value or quality of care, according to the latest data from the Health Care […]