Healthcare News of Note: Xavier Becerra likely to be confirmed as next U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary
Healthcare News of Note for healthcare finance professionals is a roundup of recent news articles, including information on the likely confirmation of Xavier Becerra as HHS secretary, which specialists are seeing an uptick in patients and lingering health issues from COVID-19.
Prospective HHS secretary: ‘We will do robust enforcement to make sure that price transparency is there for all Americans’
Xavier Becerra, the nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden administration, said transparency is a vital step in addressing the issue of healthcare prices.
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.
RAND report finds regulating hospital prices would be the most effective way to reduce healthcare spending, but are the proposals viable?
The American Hospital Association had a negative reaction to study findings showing that regulation of hospital prices would be the most effective way to reduce prices paid by commercial insurers.
Front-line stories: How today’s prior authorization processes create a burden of waste for providers
As hospitals continue to struggle with razor-thin margins, they should actively identify activities that create financial burdens for them without delivering value to patients. One health system’s stories of administrative waste due to prior authorization processes show why this activity should be be high on their list.
Navigating change: Implications of CMS’s 2021 Physician Fee Schedule
Changes to the CMS Physician Fee Schedule for 2021 require immediate deliberation by provider organizations with respect to how they will structure their physician compensation arrangements.
Hospitals enjoy greater flexibility in compensating physicians for value-based care
New regulations effective Jan. 19, 2021, afford hospitals, providers of certain ancillary services and accountable care organizations they own significantly greater flexibility to compensate physicians for collaboration on value-based care initiatives.
Hospital groups ask Supreme Court to reverse payment cuts to 340B hospitals, off-campus provider-based departments
The American Hospital Association and other hospital groups are challenging 2020 appeals court decisions that allow HHS to continue slashing payments to 340B hospitals and to off-campus provider-based departments.
Report: Large sampling reveals 30% of hospitals haven’t complied with any aspect of the new price transparency requirements
Hospitals have had an easier time posting the required price information for consumer-friendly shoppable services than for all the services in their chargemaster, according to a large survey.
Is the Medicare Appeals Backlog Finally Breaking?
Facing a court order to eliminate its Medicare appeals backlog, the Trump administration has seen early success.