House Panel Advances Bill That Revises Medicare Hospital Payments
The legislation would roll back some of the cost-cutting changes made in payments to hospital outpatient departments. It's not clear yet whether the bill has enough support to make it through Congress. Also in Medicare news, another committee examines the government's efforts to eliminate waste and a look at one aspect of the administration's proposal to change payments for Part B drugs.
Modern Healthcare:
House Bill Trims Pay For All Hospitals To Fund Leeway In Site-Neutral Medicare Pay
Members of the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday unanimously agreed to cut hospital Medicare payments across the board to pay for allowing hospitals building on-campus outpatient departments to continue receiving higher rates than non-hospital clinics. The bill, which now goes to the full House, would slightly reduce the increase contained in the Medicare and CHIP Reauthorization Act that is scheduled to go into effect in October 2017. (Muchmore, 5/24)
Morning Consult:
Bill Popular With Hospital Groups Advanced By Key House Committee
The Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday advanced a bipartisan bill containing a hodgepodge of provisions related to hospitals. While the bill is popular with industry groups and House members, it’s unclear how much momentum it has on the other side of Capitol Hill. The bill, which passed on a voice vote, would amend the changes made to Medicare hospital payments under the Bipartisan Budget Act last year. The budget bill changed the rate at which Medicare reimburses doctors’ offices that have been bought by hospitals. (Owens, 5/24)
Modern Healthcare:
CMS Lambasted For Failing To Curb Medicaid, Medicare Fraud And Abuse
Lawmakers grilled a CMS administrator Tuesday as government watchdog groups release more damning reports on the federal agency's efforts at eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) said the CMS is part of his weekly stump speech and “not in a complimentary way.” He said the agency's performance would not be tolerated in the private sector. (Muchmore, 5/24)
Morning Consult:
House Panel Pushes Administration Officials On Medicare, Medicaid Improper Payments
Members of a House oversight panel raised concerns about a rising number of improper Medicare and Medicaid payments identified by federal oversight groups at a Tuesday hearing. Witnesses from the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General told members of the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are implementing recommendations to limit improper payments and ineligible providers related to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. (McIntire, 5/24)
Kaiser Health News:
Medicare’s Drug-Pricing Experiment Stirs Opposition
A broad proposal by Medicare to change the way it pays for some drugs has drawn intense reaction and lobbying, with much of the debate centering on whether the plan gives too much power over drug prices to government regulators. ... One of the approaches included in the proposal would allow Medicare to earmark “therapeutically similar” drugs and set a benchmark, or “reference price,” that it would pay for all drugs in that category. That amount might be the cost of the drug the agency considers the most effective in the group, or some other measure. It’s aimed at narrowing the wide variability — often hundreds or thousands of dollars a year — in what is paid for similar drugs. (Appleby, 5/25)
For more drug pricing news, check out our weekly feature, Prescription Drug Watch, which includes coverage and perspectives of the issue.
Modern Healthcare:
Feds Jump Into Whistle-Blower Lawsuit Against Prime
The U.S. Justice Department has joined a whistle-blower's lawsuit against Prime Healthcare alleging the hospital chain fraudulently billed Medicare for beneficiaries admitted as inpatients when they should have been treated as outpatients. The government filed notice in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Monday saying it would partly intervene in the case. (Schencker, 5/24)
