Friday, May 24, 2013
Daily News
05-24-2013

Three House Republicans Push Back Against Medigap Reform Proposals

Three House Republicans are urging lawmakers to put off changes to Medigap plans that could increase beneficiaries' costs until Medicare is substantially reformed, even as Congress' Medicare payment advisers, the president and budget-cutting experts push for increased beneficiary cost sharing to decrease the use of health services by those with Medigap plans, particularly those with first dollar coverage.

719 words
 

Key Democrat Seeks To Offset Cost Of Freeing Sequestered FDA User Fees

The top Democrat on the House FDA funding panel is trying to identify ways to pay for a measure that would allow FDA to access $85 million in sequestered user fees before he introduces language that could be tacked onto an agency funding bill, according to a congressional source.

737 words
 
05-23-2013

Unreleased FDA Compounding Guide Becomes Focus Of House Bill

House Energy and Commerce Republicans signaled they may clarify FDA's authority over drug compounding -- particularly the much debated part of the statute that is subject to a circuit court split -- but they held steady on not giving the agency new powers.

855 words
 

Lawmakers Seek To Hike Prices As CMS Hears Concerns On Diagnostic Test Pay

CMS will hold its annual meeting in July to hear concerns over pay rates for tests added to the clinical laboratory fee schedule in 2014, which includes molecular diagnostics, the agency announced the day after a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill aimed increasing pay by overhaul the rate-setting process.

747 words
 

CA Exchange Head: Provider Pay, Risk Adjustment Helped To Keep Premiums Down

California providers' agreement to accept lower reimbursement rates as well as health plans' willingness to bet on a good risk mix and to limit administrative costs and profit were key factors in ensuring affordable premiums for plans participating in the individual exchanges, Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, said Thursday (May 23) as he announced 13 health plans are likely to participate in the state's individual exchange.

1445 words
 

Illinois Decides To Turn Pre-Existing Condition Plan Over To Feds

Illinois has decided it won't continue administering its Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, Health Exchange Alert has learned, lowering the total number of states that will continue to run their own PCIP programs under CMS' new contract terms to nine. Earlier in the week, CMS said 10 states had agreed to keep running their PCIPs and 17 decided they would not, but subsequently Illinois decided to end its program, an agency official confirms.

573 words
 

CMS To Create RAC Targeting Durable Medical Equipment, Home Health

CMS plans to create a national Recovery Audit Contractor program focusing specifically on durable medical equipment and home health, according to contractors and an undated statement of work obtained by Inside Health Policy.

562 words
 

FDA Seeks Contractor's Help In Profiling Drug Compounding Industry

FDA this month signed a nearly $80,000 contract with Eastern Research Group to do an industry profile of pharmacy compounding operations, according to government spending records.

510 words
 
05-22-2013

Colorado Exchange Draws Strong Plan Interest, But United Opts Out

Colorado state officials touted the robust insurance interest in participating in the state's individual and small group exchanges Wednesday, with 10 carriers -- including Cigna, WellPoint, Humana and Kaiser Health -- proposing to offer about 150 plans through the individual exchange and six carriers proposing about 100 products in the small group (SHOP) exchange.

650 words
 

Changes Eyed To Senate Compounding Bill Could Exempt Home Infusion

Senators and stakeholders are considering potential changes to the upper chamber's drug compounding bill -- particularly the bill's current pooling and repackaging definitions that stakeholders worry could bring home infusion providers under the new regulatory category for compounding manufacturers and increase the cost of certain eye treatments.

1072 words
 

FDA May Not Honor FSMA Food Exemptions, Industry Attorneys Warn

FDA's update of Current Good Manufacturing Practices in the proposed hazard analysis and preventive controls rule raises questions about whether the agency will use the Food Safety Modernization Act to expand its authorities over seafood, juice and low-acid canned food suppliers, according to two industry attorneys.

1036 words
 

Advocates Praise VA Duals Demo As Leading Way On Beneficiary Tracking

Virginia received CMS' nod Tuesday (May 21) to move forward with a proposed demonstration to coordinate care for beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid that beneficiary advocates hope will lead the way for other states when it comes to monitoring patients' movement from plan to plan.

926 words
 

Lawmakers Push CMS To Find New Data Sources For GPCI Payments

CMS' way of calculating the geographic pricing cost index for physicians is faulty, a bipartisan group of 21 House lawmakers recently told the agency, while urging CMS to consider using real market data for physicians' wages when calculating the work GPCI and to reduce the impact of the practice expense GPCI since no accurate measurements of such expenses exist.

736 words
 
05-21-2013

After Telling CMS To Cut Dialysis Pay, Senators Urge CMS Not To Cut Too Deeply

A bipartisan group of 17 senators on Tuesday (May 21) urged CMS to avoid deep payment cuts to dialysis facilities, even though the fiscal-cliff deal directs CMS to scale back dialysis pay.

612 words
 

Ways & Means Puts Home Health Copay On List Of 3 Medicare Cost-Sharing Ideas

Charging seniors a home health copay made the list of three Medicare reforms that House Ways and Means health subcommittee Republicans chose to discuss at a hearing on Tuesday (May 21), as the home health industry engages in an aggressive campaign against such copays with the help of former Louisiana Republican House Energy and Commerce Chair Billy Tauzin as their lobbyist.

760 words
 

Cohen: HHS Eyes Funding More Consumer Assistance In Federal Exchange States

The head of CMS’ insurance oversight office says the administration is looking at whether it can fund additional consumer assistance activities for the federal exchanges apart from ACA navigators, a key program designed to boost enrollment in the exchanges but for which HHS has only made $54 million available.

919 words
 

House Appropriators Clear Cuts To HHS Funding, Reject Dems' Sequester Replacement

House appropriators on Tuesday (May 21) approved top-line spending amounts for each of 12 appropriations bills for fiscal 2014 -- including a 22 percent cut to HHS, Labor and Education funding -- while also rejecting a Democratic proposal to replace the across-the-board sequestration cuts.

725 words
 

Prosthetists Sue HHS Over Contractors' Physician Documentation Requirements

The American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association is suing HHS over alleged illegal changes to the prosthetics approval process applied by Recovery Audit Contractors and Medicare Administrative Contractors.

800 words
 

Senate Panel Nixes Animal Drug Compounding Provisions Heading Into Markup

The Senate health committee stripped animal drug provisions from the compounding bill slated to be marked up Wednesday (May 22), replacing the provisions with language calling for a Government Accountability Office report, according to a manager's amendment obtained by Inside Health Policy.

645 words
 
05-20-2013

CBO Newly Optimistic About MA Enrollment; Plans Eye ACOs To Blunt MA Cuts

The Congressional Budget Office expects a lot more seniors to enroll in Medicare Advantage plans than it did just a year ago, and health care consultancy firm Marwood Group said CBO's projections are conservative.

809 words
 
Page 1 of 751

Account Manager

Manage various aspects of your InsideHealthPolicy NewsStand account from changing your password to editing your billing information.