New federal guidance seeks to clarify reimbursement of COVID-19 testing and vaccinations
Federal agencies have issued new guidance intended to make it easier for healthcare providers to receive reimbursement for administering COVID-19 tests to insured individuals and for giving vaccinations to the uninsured.
News Briefs: Latest patient volume data reveals some of the challenges facing hospitals in the COVID-19 era
Recent industry reports have quantified the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital patient volume.
3 takeaways from the latest MedPAC policy meeting: future payment rates, telehealth coverage approaches and an overhaul of Medicare APMs
The January meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission included policy discussions about some of the most pressing issues in healthcare, including coverage of telehealth services.
Medicare phases out the inpatient-only list, backs off further 340B payment cuts
The final rule for the CY21 Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System will phase out the inpatient-only list but won’t implement steeper 340B cuts.
Telehealth: Moving from stop-gap measures to an integrated care delivery model
With telemedicine on the rise, two senior leaders advise having proper denials prevention and response strategy, along with ideas on motivating physicians to participate in telehealth programs.
HFMA recommended coronavirus resources
The coronavirus is affecting the healthcare industry in unprecedented ways, and HFMA wants to help you stay up to date on the latest news about the outbreak. Come back to this page regularly for coronavirus resources, selected specifically for healthcare finance professionals, including Medicare information on regulations and guidelines, COVID-19 test pricing, COVID-19 coding, telehealth billing FAQs and more.
CMS’s latest guidance for healthcare organizations on the new coronavirus
The HFMA editorial team will continuously post the latest announcements from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) related to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Deconstructing the CMS price transparency rule
By Jan. 1, 2021, hospitals and health systems must create and make public a list of standard charges for the top items and services they provide, per CMS. An executive discusses the challenges and opportunities this presents in this overview.
CMS Administrator Seema Verma receives HFMA’s Board of Directors Award, talks with CEO Joe Fifer
At HFMA's Digital Annual Conference, President and CEO Joe Fifer presented CMS Administrator Seema Verma with the Association's highest honor: the Richard L. Clarke Board of Directors Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to healthcare in a role that involves oversight of a $1 trillion budget, representing 26% of the total federal budget, and administration of health coverage programs for more than 130 million Americans. Following the presentation, Fifer and Verma had a Q&A session in which she addressed price transparency, the pandemic, and the future of value-based care.
Proposed change to Medicare E/M payment leads to disagreement among both providers and health plans
Medicare physician payment changes for evaluation and management could have dire financial repercussions for some practices, providers warn.