Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Catering To Medicare Advantage Patients A Growth Industry
Modern Healthcare: Caring For Medicare Advantage Patients Now A Growth Business
Medical clinics that cater to chronically ill seniors are expanding rapidly across the country as they vie for patients in the lucrative, fast-growing Medicare Advantage market. Clinic operators ChenMed, Oak Street Health and Partners in Primary Care are among companies that have recently unveiled plans to bring senior-focused medical centers to new communities. Meanwhile, some hospital systems are attempting to get in on the action with their own senior clinics. (Livingston, 10/31)
KHN: Medicare Fines Half Of Hospitals For Readmitting Too Many Patients
Nearly half the nation’s hospitals, many of which are still wrestling with the financial fallout of the unexpected coronavirus, will get lower payments for all Medicare patients because of their history of readmitting patients, federal records show. The penalties are the ninth annual round of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program created as part of the Affordable Care Act’s broader effort to improve quality and lower costs. The latest penalties are calculated using each hospital case history between July 2016 and June 2019, so the flood of coronavirus patients that have swamped hospitals this year were not included. (Rau, 11/2)
Modern Healthcare: MACPAC: Expanded Postpartum Coverage Needed, But Resources Lacking
The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission will likely recommend Congress extend Medicaid's postpartum coverage, but its members are split on whether to make the expansion mandatory or optional for states, according to comments made during MACPAC's October meeting on Friday. The congressional advisory panel agreed that Congress should expand Medicaid's postpartum coverage to 12 months with full benefits for new mothers and that Medicaid's coverage should align with the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Experts said extending coverage would help address a wide range of pregnancy-related health issues by ensuring women could access care after birth. (Brady, 10/30)
In obituaries —
Modern Healthcare: Dr. Philip Lee, An Architect Of Medicare, Nation's First Assistant Secretary Of Health, Dies At 96
Dr. Philip Lee, who was a leading force in the implementation of the Medicare program as the nation's first assistant secretary of health, died earlier this week, according to a notice from the University of California San Francisco, where he served as chancellor. Lee, who formed the Health Policy Program at UCSF—what would come to be the Philip R. Lee Institute of Health Policy Studies—served as assistant secretary of health under Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton. (10/31)
