Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Math Error At Rural Hospital Could Cost All Mass. Hospitals $160M In Medicare Funding
The Boston Globe: How A Tiny Hospital Has Imperiled Mass. Medicare Funds
Simple math errors at a tiny Massachusetts hospital have created big problems for other hospitals in the state, contributing to a potential $160 million drop in federal Medicare payments over the next year. A loss that steep — 10 percent of Medicare funding for the hardest-hit hospitals — could force layoffs of 2,000 staff, with cuts concentrated outside Boston, according to estimates by the Massachusetts Council of Community Hospitals. (Kowalczyk, 5/2)
Modern Healthcare: Docs Face Stark Choices Under New Medicare Pay Proposal
The new draft regulations designed to change how Medicare pays clinicians represent the most sweeping overhaul the CMS has made in a long time to the business of running a physician practice. The goal is to have the vast majority of CMS funding flow through payment models that reward doctors for the quality of care they deliver, not just how many patients they see. (Kutscher, 4/30)
STAT: Senate Republicans Urge Obama To Withdraw Medicare Part B Experiment
One month after the Obama administration unveiled an experiment to revamp the Medicare Part B program, more than a dozen Republican Senators are urging that it be withdrawn. At the same time, House Republicans and Democrats are circulating letters among themselves that express varying degrees of concern with the program. ... Under the Part B program, doctors, and hospitals buy a medicine, and the government reimburses the average sales price plus 6 percent. But the experiment, which would run five years starting this fall, would pay physicians the average price, plus another 2.5 percent and a flat fee of $16.80, not including reductions required by sequestration, or automatic spending cuts. (Silverman, 4/29)
