Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Bill To Stop Medicare From Changing Some Drug Payments Could Cost $1.1B, CBO Says
Morning Consult: CBO: Bill Blocking Medicare Drug Payment Reform Demo Would Prevent $1.1 Billion In Savings
A bill that would block the Obama administration from implementing a proposal meant to test how Medicare reimburses for some prescription drugs would prevent $1.1 billion in savings over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office projects. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposal would test a new way for Medicare Part B to reimburse providers for drugs covered under that program. (McIntire, 10/4)
The Star Tribune: Audit: Medicare Wastes Billions On Defective Medical Devices
Medicare’s fiscal watchdog has documented $1.5 billion in spending on seven types of defective heart devices that doctors implanted in thousands of beneficiaries. In addition to the money Medicare paid to health care providers for services and procedures related to recalls or premature device failures, the patients who got the defective devices paid an estimated $140 million in deductibles and coinsurance costs from their own pockets, according to a report that U.S. Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel Levinson published Tuesday. (Carlson, 10/4)
And in other Medicare news —
Arizona Republic: Prescott Hospital Pays $5.9 Million To Settle Claim Of Medicare Overpayments
Yavapai Regional Medical Center in Prescott will pay nearly $5.9 million to the federal government to settle a whistleblower claim that the hospital system inflated Medicare payments by incorrectly reporting the amount of hours hospital employees worked. The U.S. attorney for Arizona said Tuesday that the hospital incorrectly reported the average hourly wages it paid employees from 2006 through 2009. Those higher hourly wages prompted Medicare, the federal health program for adults 65 and older, to pay the hospital artificially high reimbursement rates based on an index that took into account many factors including hospital wages, court documents state. (Alltucker, 10/4)
The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: AmeriHealth New Jersey To Drop Medicare Advantage Business
AmeriHealth New Jersey, a subsidiary of Philadelphia's Independence Blue Cross, has notified customers that it is dropping its Medicare Advantage business in the state at the end of this year. "While several factors contributed to our decision to discontinue offering Medicare Advantage plans in 2017, increased utilization and inadequate funding were the most pressing," spokeswoman Jill Roman said Tuesday. (Brubaker, 10/4)
