Proposed Medicare hospital payment rule includes a surprising cut
Although payment rates technically would increase under Medicare’s 2026 proposed rule for hospital outpatient care, various provisions would chip away at the finances of hospitals and health systems. Specifically, key provisions would equalize certain site-based payments and also accelerate a planned across-the-board payment decrease related to 2022 remedy payments that were made to 340B Drug…
In proposed Medicare physician payment rule, CMS emphasizes Trump administration priorities
Medicare’s 2026 proposed rule for physicians is a key early chance for the Trump administration to shape U.S. healthcare policy in alignment with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again approach. Some of the most noteworthy provisions thus represent an effort to shift resources to primary care and prevention and to crack…
Constriction looms for a key segment of healthcare coverage
The reverberations for Medicaid have drawn most of the recent headlines, but federal policy developments also portend a big contraction of the individual-insurance market in 2026 and beyond. Although group coverage remains the predominant form in the U.S., the market for individual plans has been growing amid recent surges in Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollment.…
How the reconciliation bill will shake out for hospitals and the healthcare industry
Note: The opening section of this article was rewritten July 23 to account for an updated estimate by the Congressional Budget Office. Declines in coverage and spending await the healthcare industry under the budget reconciliation bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, but the immediate consequences could be muted. Since passage…
Reconciliation bill with substantial Medicaid cost-cutting is set to become law
Note: The headline and some information in this story were updated July 3 in response to events in Congress. July 3 update The House passed the reconciliation bill by a party-line 218-214 vote (with two Republicans voting “no”), teeing it up for President Donald Trump to sign into law July 4. See the original story…
Supreme Court retains the Affordable Care Act’s mandate to waive cost sharing for preventive care
The status quo prevailed Friday for coverage of preventive care under the Affordable Care Act, with the Supreme Court backing a mandate for preventive services to be cost-free if supported by an expert panel. With a 6-3 decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood, the court overruled an appeals court’s finding that members of the U.S. Preventive…
Medicaid funding restrictions hit a roadblock in budget reconciliation bill
A Senate official put at least a temporary halt to one of the most contentious sources of Medicaid savings in the budget reconciliation bill. The chamber’s parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, ruled that provisions to reduce Medicaid provider taxes cannot be included in the bill in their current form. If Republicans retain the tax limits or other…
HFMA asks Congress to delay Medicaid cuts, study alternatives ahead of One Big Beautiful Bill vote
HFMA has written to Republican congressional leaders to suggest a three-year delay of Medicaid funding cuts while a national commission studies a comprehensive overhaul of Medicaid financing, in order to avoid immediate cuts and ensure a sustainable and predictable program for vulnerable populations.
HFMA Submits Closing Recommendations to Mitigate Effects and Unintended Consequences of Largest Reform to Federal Medicaid in Program History
HFMA submits closing recommendations to mitigate certain effects and unintended consequences of the largest reform to federal Medicaid in program history to Senate Leader Thune and House Speaker Johnson.
Annual Conference Day 2: Medicaid, AI take center stage in presentations
On the list of concerns for hospital and health system CFOs, looming cuts to Medicaid payments are at or near the top, according to a panel discussion Monday afternoon at HFMA’s Annual Conference in Denver. Cuts to projected Medicaid spending, as drafted in the budget reconciliation bill now being discussed among congressional Republicans, would have…