Medicare

Post-acute and long-term care organizations are asking the incoming Biden administration to institute a nationwide COVID-19 prevention and vaccination policy, as well as a workforce development plan and continued COVID-19 waivers -- including broader use of telehealth -- groups told Inside Health Policy.

In another 11th-hour move, the Trump CMS finalized Tuesday (Jan. 12) a rule, long-sought by the medical device industry, that provides instant Medicare coverage of FDA-designated breakthrough technology.

Democratic control of the Senate sets up a debate between the liberal and moderate wings of the party over how to curb drug prices, but the bigger obstacle to drug pricing legislation could be a Republican filibuster, unless Democrats pay for Bidencare policies with drug pricing measures in budget-neutral legislation that they could pass with a simple majority using a budget process called budget reconciliation.

The Urban Institute finds in a new analysis that coupling a Medicare buy-in with enhanced ACA tax credits would lead to the largest coverage gains.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday (Dec. 29) ruled that HHS can move forward with its controversial hospital price transparency rule on Jan. 1, agreeing with a lower court just days before the rule was set to go into effect.

The Center for Medicare Advocacy and the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations are pushing the incoming Biden administration to halt a last-minute effort by the Trump administration to put in place a Medicare geographic direct contracting option -- which the Commonwealth Fund has called one of the biggest changes to Medicare since managed care.

The 2020 year-end package that passed the House and Senate Monday (Dec. 21) includes a number of policies aimed at improving hospice care, and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization says the bill will help provide uninterrupted access to hospice providers during the pandemic -- though the group will closely watch how the program integrity provisions are implemented.

Drug makers are largely unscathed by the year-end government spending bill because Congress instead used hospital surprise billing legislation to pay for coronavirus relief, but the legislative package does include proposals that were part of drug price transparency bills, including one to give congressional Medicare and Medicaid advisers data on closely guarded rebates.

Federal Judge Catherine Blake said Friday she will rule by Dec. 24 on whether to put on hold the Trump administration’s plan to tie Medicare Part B reimbursement to foreign drug prices.