Medicare contractors should more closely examine providers’ bad debt claims, HHS watchdog says
Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) soon could apply more scrutiny to providers’ reported bad debts if CMS implements recommendations from the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG). OIG in December issued a report in which it examined bad-debt reimbursement claims on Medicare cost reports spanning 2016 through 2018 for 67 randomly selected providers (including 29 hospitals). In those…
Healthcare News of Note: Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health megamerger complete
Healthcare News of Note for healthcare finance professionals is a roundup of recent news articles: Atrium and Advocate Health close merger deal, CMS details expectations of hospitals in memo addressing workplace violence, and CMS plans to recoup $650 million in overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans.
New rule sets forth proposed Medicare payment policies for rural emergency hospitals
For hospitals that choose to begin operating under the new rural emergency hospital designation in 2023, Medicare will pay for any service that would be covered as a hospital outpatient department service.
Medicare spells out proposed conditions of participation for rural emergency hospitals
Seeking to shore up operations for rural hospitals, CMS issued a proposed rule that establishes recommended regulations for the new rural emergency hospital category.
Some Medicare payments to hospitals for bariatric surgery may be inappropriate, OIG finds
Medicare could have saved nearly $48 million in bariatric surgery payments to hospitals during an 18-month period if coverage rules and guidance were better implemented at the contractor level, according to the HHS Office of Inspector General.
As COVID-19 vaccination deadlines arrive for healthcare providers, CMS offers explanatory resources
As the deadlines arrive for providers to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, CMS has made various resources available to help healthcare entities determine whether and when the regulations apply to them.
HHS’s Office of Inspector General announces audit of providers’ COVID-19 billing practices
OIG has announced an audit of Provider Relief Fund recipients to ensure they did not balance-bill presumptive or actual COVID-19 patients.
Supreme Court agrees to review the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in upcoming weeks
The nation’s highest court is being asked to clarify whether implementation of CMS’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate can proceed.
The vaccine mandate for healthcare workers is back in place for half the country following an appeals court ruling
The question of whether healthcare employees can be covered by vaccine mandates likely will be decided by the Supreme Court.
10 states file lawsuit to halt CMS’s new rule requiring healthcare staff to be vaccinated
The suit says CMS didn’t have a good rationale for implementing the mandate and failed to follow required procedures for handing down such regulations.