The FY24 HHS budget covers key programs for rural hospitals while tightening spending in some areas
The newly passed budget covering HHS during the remainder of FY24 contains notable provisions for healthcare providers. The roughly $117 billion departmental budget for the next six months was set in an appropriations bill that was passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden within hours of the March 22 expiration of funding for…
Highlights of the Administration’s FY 2025 Budget
HFMA presents a summary highlighting healthcare-related proposals included in the President’s Budget for fiscal year 2025, based on materials released by the Biden Administration on March 11, 2024.
Hospitals warrant an extra boost in their Medicare payment rate next year, MedPAC says
Hospitals will get a more favorable Medicare payment increase in FY25 if Congress follows the recommendations of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). In its semiannual report to Congress, MedPAC recommended a 1.5% bump on top of what otherwise would be provided according to statute. That would mean an estimated increase of about 4.5% for…
The federal policy response to the Change Healthcare cyberattack
Note: This information is excerpted from HFMA’s running coverage of the cyberattack that disabled operations at Change Healthcare. On March 10, HHS and the Department of Labor sent a letter encouraging commercial payers to do their part to help financially strained providers nearly three weeks after the cyberattack on Change Healthcare. “Larger payers in particular…
Federal funding legislation would address Medicaid DSH cuts, physician payments and more
March 8 update The Senate passed the appropriations bill by a 75-22 vote, getting it to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign hours before funding for some federal departments would have expired and a big cut to Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments would have begun. Attention now turns to HHS and other…
New rule on Medicaid DSH payments will impose stricter limits on many hospitals
Numerous hospitals that receive Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments face a tighter cap on their payment amounts after the Feb. 23 publication of a CMS final rule. The regulations were spawned by 2020 year-end legislation that made changes to the DSH hospital-specific limit (HSL), including with respect to how third-party payments factor into the…
Site-neutral payment has backing in healthcare policy circles, but its efficacy as a cost restraint is unclear
The concept of site-neutral payment continues to receive support from members of Congress and healthcare policy analysts, as demonstrated during a recent hearing. The Jan. 31 hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee was intended, in part, to promote pending legislation that would strengthen price transparency and implement other policies designed to…
CMS’s 2025 advance rate notice for Medicare Advantage brings potential concern for providers
Medicare Advantage (MA) health plans are projected to reap a 3.7% revenue increase in 2025, but provider payments could be affected by a decrease in plan benchmarks, per data shared in CMS’s annual advance notice. If finalized, the estimated 0.16% average reduction in base payments to plans could have consequences for care delivery, one provider…
Hospitals say Supreme Court should hear a case that affects disproportionate share hospital payments
Hospital advocacy groups hope the Supreme Court will review a lower-court ruling that has adverse implications for Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments. Six groups on Feb. 2 submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court regarding an appeals court’s 2023 decision backing HHS’s interpretation of the DSH payment formula. The department long has said…
News Briefs: A new fee is set for using the No Surprises Act arbitration portal
Bringing out-of-network payment disputes to arbitration under the No Surprises Act in 2024 will be less expensive than previously proposed. In a final rule, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury established the administrative fee for using the independent dispute resolution (IDR) portal at $115 per case, effective Jan. 22. That’s…