Physicians and other providers can take a deep breath as Congress has acted to prevent the trio of Medicare payment cuts that were set to take effect at the beginning of 2022—a 3.75% cut due to scheduled changes in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”), a 2% cut for Medicare sequestration, and a 4% Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (“PAYGO”) Act cut would have slashed Medicare payments by nearly 10% during a tumultuous time for healthcare. The Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act (S. 610) was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on December 7 and passed the U.S. Senate on December 9, 2021.  The bill has been sent to President Biden’s desk for his signature.
Continue Reading News Flash: Last Minute Congressional Action Saves Physicians from a Nearly 10% Cut to Medicare Payments

On September 13, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order (the “Executive Order”) directing the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to issue regulations instituting two most-favored-nations (“MFN”) payment
Continue Reading Medicare Part B Most Favored Nation Drug Pricing Model: New Rules, New Lawsuits, New Tweets

In a setback to hospitals challenging deep cuts to reimbursement for prescription drugs acquired through the 340B drug pricing program (“340B Program”), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, on October 19, denied a request to reconsider a decision by three-judge panels of the Court upholding these cuts.  Short of a Supreme Court appeal, this decision effectively ends hospital challenges to these reimbursement reductions, and makes the implementation of additional cuts in 2021 a near inevitability.
Continue Reading The U.S. Court of Appeals Denies Rehearing on Cuts to 340B Drug Pricing Program

Information Collection Request. On November 27, 2019, 340B Health, a nonprofit membership organization comprised of hospitals and health systems that participate in the federal 340B drug pricing program (“340B Program”), submitted comments (“340B Comments”) to Seema Verma, the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), objecting to an announcement by CMS on September 30, 2019, which proposed an information collection request (“ICR”) to survey the drug acquisition cost data for hospitals participating in the 340B Program.
Continue Reading 340B Program-Participating Hospitals Object to CMS’s Proposed Cuts to 340B Program Reimbursement: CMS’s Recent Information Collection Request

On September 17, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”), vacating CMS’ 2018 Final OPPS Rule, which cut Medicare reimbursement rates for certain outpatient hospital services provided at certain off-campus provider-based departments (“PBDs”).
Continue Reading D.C. District Court Vacates CMS Final Rule, Finds that CMS’ Lesser Reimbursement of Services Provided at Grandfathered Off-Campus Provider-Based Departments Was Improper

On July 11, 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced a proposed rule for home health agency Medicare reimbursement that would increase payments by an aggregate 1.3% for 2020, amounting to $250 million. In doing so, CMS would begin a transition to payments that are value-based, implementing the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (“PDGM”), an alternate case-mix payment methodology. In the PDGM, home health agencies are paid for 30 rather than 60-day episodes of care, and reimbursement is based on patient characteristics rather than the number of therapy visits provided. In a statement from CMS administrator Seema Verma regarding the proposed rule, she said the PDGM will reward “value over volume.” The proposed changes to reimbursement also include a one-year phasing out of pre-payments for home health services, known as Requests for Anticipated Payment. These proposed changes reflect a significant shift in the manner in which home health agencies historically have been reimbursed.
Continue Reading CMS Proposes New Home Health Agency Rule Including Potential Changes to Reimbursement, Coverage, Quality, and More: CMS Accepting Comments until September 9, 2019

Two of the nation’s most noteworthy companies in the Revenue Cycle Management (“RCM”) technology space, Navicure Inc., and ZirMed Inc., announced a merger on September 14, 2017.

Navicure is a medical claims management, patient payment and data analytics company and ZirMed is known for its predictive analytics technology that helps healthcare organizations capture more revenue. The parties have announced that Navicure will purchase ZirMed and the transaction is expected to close by the end of this year.
Continue Reading Recent Merger Reflects Enhanced Need for Revenue Cycle Management Platforms