On Costs, Congress Eyes Transparency, Billing, Consolidation
July 2—Members of Congress say they are increasingly concerned about rising healthcare costs and are looking at policies around transparency, balance billing, and provider consolidation.
June 25-29: Congress to Focus on Healthcare Costs
June 21—A Senate committee next week plans the first in a series of hearings focused on ways to reduce healthcare costs.
Trump Administration to Replace Value-Based Payment Goal
June 20—Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar II has rejected the Obama administration’s goal of shifting 50 percent of Medicare payments to value-based payment models by the end of 2018.
Amid Clashes, Senators See Bipartisanship on Transparency
June 20—Members of Congress remain deeply divided over health insurance approaches but see a path to bipartisan agreement on transparency.
Rejecting Hospital Concerns, Administration Expands Association Plans
June 19—Despite calls from major hospital groups to drop a proposed expansion of association health plans (AHPs), the Trump administration has finalized those rules.
Prospective Bundles, Downside Risk Models Trending: Survey
June 18—The prevalence of prospective bundled payment and downside risk among payment models offered by private health insurers surprised a sponsor of a new national survey.
Hospital Concerns Push CMS Time Out on Star Ratings
June 15—The stars and the data didn’t align for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which said this week that it was postponing its scheduled July update to the agency’s star ratings for some 4,000 hospitals nationwide.
June 18-22: Congress to Review 340B Oversight
June 14—Members of a congressional panel will dive into ways to change the regulatory oversight of a major discount drug program, including steps that could have big hospital impacts.
Likely Government Responses to Hospital M&A Trends
June 14—Ongoing hospital merger-and-acquisition (M&A) trends may soon spawn more state and federal actions beyond antitrust enforcement, longtime policy advisers say.
Are MACRA Changes Coming?
June 13—The growing criticism of Medicare’s new physician payment system has produced calls for Congress to overhaul it. And some policy experts expect changes.