The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday (July 8) awarded another $10.73 million to 25 health care providers in rural and urban areas of the country as part of its COVID-19 response fund for telehealth services.
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The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday (July 8) awarded another $10.73 million to 25 health care providers in rural and urban areas of the country as part of its COVID-19 response fund for telehealth services.
The Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness called on CMS to continue to allow telehealth flexibilities for behavioral health services beyond the pandemic, but to also closely study the efficiency of such services, in a letter sent to CMS Administrator Seema Verma on Monday (July 6).
Hospitals and providers are looking to the future, calling for a permanent emergency fund for hospitals in case of future emergencies, an investment in public health surveillance and medical supplies, and permanent flexibility to offer telehealth services in recent letters to Congress.
A bipartisan group of senators on Thursday (July 2) introduced legislation to waive eligibility requirements next year for any previously eligible hospital in the 340B program, citing challenges faced by these hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic that might make them ineligible moving forward.
The medical cost trend for commercial and self-insured employer-sponsored insurance in 2021 will be highly dependent on the pandemic, which is why analysts at PwC are basing estimates on three potential utilization scenarios with outcomes ranging from a 4% to a 10% increase in per capita costs for medical services and drugs.
Health care advocates are celebrating Oklahoma voters’ move to defy state leadership and expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which is expected to provide health care to about 200,000 Sooners.
Four long overdue Medicaid guidance documents meant to help states tackle the nation’s opioid crisis are still missing, months after CMS and HHS officials promised the House Energy & Commerce health subcommittee in early March they’d get the guidance out sometime this spring.
The House on Monday (June 29) passed 234-179 legislation to expand the Affordable Care Act’s ACA’s tax credits, incentivize Medicaid expansion and reverse Trump administration policies that chipped away at the law, and Democrats fully paid for the package using legislation to reduce prescription drug prices via government negotiation.
The hospice lobby told Inside Health Policy on Monday (June 29) that HHS signaled to the group an extension of the public health emergency declaration is likely as a growing number of provider groups join hospitals’ calls to HHS to extend the declaration before its expiration on July 25.
The Trump administration has secured 500,000 treatment courses of Gilead’s experimental COVID-19 drug remdesivir, and hospitals will pay no more than $3,200 per average treatment course, HHS and Gilead announced Monday morning (June 29).
After having reworked certain innovation center models in light of COVID-19,[/node/115262], Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Director Brad Smith said during a virtual summit Wednesday (June 24) the center hopes to release new models later this year.
Beneficiary advocates, family and nursing home staff told lawmakers at a heated House Ways & Means Committee hearing Thursday (June 25) that an increased focus on testing and oversight in nursing homes is needed after CMS said more than 29,000 residents died of COVID-19.
Lawmakers are upset that federally supported test sites are set to close soon, but HHS officials said the federal government is simply transferring control to states.
Democrats will vote Monday (June 29) on House Democrats’ bill to enhance the Affordable Care Act by boosting the law’s tax credits, reverse Trump administration rules seen as undermining the law and encourage states to take up the Medicaid expansion.
The American Hospital Association on Friday (June 19) called on HHS to extend the public health emergency declaration set to expire on July 25 until testing capacity increases and fewer people test positive for COVID-19.
Safety net hospital organizations said many of their members will not receive HHS' latest $10 billion in provider relief meant specifically for them.
CMS proposed a rule Wednesday (June 17) to make it easier for insurers to negotiate deals in which drug prices fluctuate based on how well they work, without forcing drug companies sell drugs to Medicaid at very low prices.
Senate health committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) recommended that Congress permanently eliminate the Medicare telehealth originating site requirement and allow Medicare and Medicaid to expand upon the types of providers that can be reimbursed for telehealth as the Senate health committee considered which relaxed requirements should be continued after the pandemic on Wednesday (June 17).
In a win for pharma, a federal appeals court on Tuesday (June 16) backed a lower court decision to throw out CMS’ rule requiring that drug makers disclose list prices in television ads.
HHS gave states less than a week to compile and send two years of state Medicaid provider data, including banking information, so the department could distribute provider relief funds to providers serving low-income communities, according to stakeholders.
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