Nick Hut
About the Author
Nick Hut is a former newspaper reporter with more than a decade of experience at HFMA. His HFMA Daily reporting is considered a top benefit of membership as members have come to rely on Hut’s daily insights on policy, legal and business developments. He has been at the forefront of major industry news, garnering a following from national media. Nick has earned multiple national awards, including two first-place honors in 2024 from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for excellence in analysis and reporting.
Latest Work
CMS cites ACA marketplace enrollment fraud in issuing 760,000 coverage cancellations
CMS has canceled roughly 315,000 enrollments encompassing 760,000 people in Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans, citing suspected fraud, according to a Sept. 22 announcement by the Trump administration. And the numbers soon could grow. The administration also plans to commence verification of legal residency, Social Security numbers, and income and other eligibility criteria for…
2027 Medicare lab fee schedule points to 15% cuts across many test codes
Preliminary data for the 2027 Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) indicate substantial downward pressure on Medicare reimbursement for lab services. CMS released information on the 2027 payment rates ahead of final rates expected in November, projecting that the methodology used to set the rates would save $1 billion annually for Medicare. Hospital-based and freestanding labs…
CMS’s ACCESS Model expansion adds chronic care tracks for Medicare providers
CMS continues to put weight behind the Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions (ACCESS) Model, a 10-year initiative to apply value-based payment and digital solutions to chronic disease management. The agency announced Sept. 15 that it would add to the services covered under the model. Newly covered conditions effective April 1, 2027, are set…
Debate on hospital merger antitrust review draws focus to access and margins
Amid recurring criticism about the impact of hospital-led consolidation, a new report recommends that regulators look beyond price increases in evaluating mergers within the sector. Commissioned by the American Hospital Association and prepared by Kaufman Hall, the report states that merger reviews should also consider hospital financial stability, access to care and the impact on…
Texas Medicaid hospital funding gap grows amid CMS delays on FY27 approvals
Sept. 18 Update Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Sept. 17 that CMS had agreed to allocate nearly $12 billion in Medicaid supplemental payments to the state’s healthcare providers, ending the impasse over FY27 state-directed payments (SDPs). Included in the sum is $9.15 billion for hospitals, which the Texas Hospital Association (THA) estimated were losing $27…
J&J adds 340B claims data requirements amid growing manufacturer restrictions
Johnson & Johnson joined the list of drug manufacturers requiring providers to submit claims data on in-house pharmacy drugs as a condition of receiving discounts in the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Hospitals and other 340B covered entities have 45 days to submit the data after dispensing a covered drug, according to J&J’s policy, although certain…
2027 Medicare primary care payment changes target longstanding undervaluation
Medicare payment for primary care is set to undergo noteworthy changes in 2027, with bigger updates looming. The proposed rule for Medicare’s Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) includes provisions to address what CMS recognizes as a long-running undervaluation of primary care, according to an agency leader. “We’re embarking on a two-year strategy to change that,” Jake…
MedPAC examines Medicare spending shifts and hospital payment pressures
Depletion looms in as few as seven years for Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund even amid long-term drops in Part A spending per beneficiary, according to insights from a meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has put the depletion date at 14 years out, or seven years later…
Federal court vacates Medicare DSH rule affecting 2005-2013 payments
In a decision with implications for a larger case, a federal court on Aug. 28 vacated a 2023 rule that affected the calculation of Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments retroactively over a nine-year period. As stated in a September 2025 ruling on the merits, the court found the rule to be unlawfully retroactive, as…
OMB federal grant rule delayed as Congress passes continuing resolution
The continuing resolution (CR) passed by both houses of Congress ensures the federal government will remain fully operational into December, and it also freezes implementation of a noteworthy change to grant-approval processes. Until the CR’s Dec. 11 expiration date, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is blocked from finalizing a previously proposed rule regarding…