To Boost Covid Vaccination Rate, CMS Bumps Up Medicare Provider Payments
The Biden administration has raised the average figure Medicare pays providers giving out covid vaccines from $28 to $40 for single-dose shots and $45 to $80 for double doses. The move is to encourage providers to give more vaccinations.
Modern Healthcare:
CMS Boosts Reimbursement For Administering COVID-19 Vaccinations
The Biden administration on Monday increased how much Medicare pays providers to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to encourage them to vaccinate more people, hire additional staff and do more patient outreach and education. CMS boosted the average payment for COVID-19 immunizations from $28 to $40 for single-dose vaccines and $45 to $80 for two-dose vaccines. But the amount each provider receives varies depending on what type of entity carries out the immunization and where it's located, according to the agency. The changes take effect immediately. (Brady, 3/15)
CIDRAP:
US Ups COVID Vaccine Payment, Notes Good Dosing Compliance
Today, the Biden administration bumped up Medicare reimbursements to healthcare providers for COVID-19 vaccines from $28 to $40 for a single dose and from $45 to $80 for a two-dose regimen, said Andy Slavitt, White House senior advisor for COVID response, in a morning coronavirus press briefing. "This will make it easier for more healthcare providers to get out into communities and give more COVID shots to people in need," Slavitt said. "We need this heroic team in particular to make sure that our highest-risk and underserved populations are cared for." (Van Beusekom, 3/15)
The Washington Post:
In The Coronavirus Relief Package, A Prescription To Expand Medicaid
Florida and 11 other states, most of them across the South, are the intended audience for a few paragraphs deep in the 630-page American Relief Plan. The legislation offers a novel and generous financial incentive to states if they agree to open Medicaid to more poor people and some in the working class. The White House has embraced the incentive, designed in Congress. It will pose an early test of Biden’s powers of persuasion as he tries to make good on his pledge to close the nation’s considerable gaps in insurance and health care — gaps the pandemic has thrown into vivid light. (Goldstein, 3/15)
In other Medicare news from California —
The New York Times:
California Sues Nursing Home Chain, Saying It Manipulated Ratings System
California prosecutors sued the country’s largest chain of senior living communities on Monday, accusing the company, Brookdale Senior Living, of manipulating the federal government’s nursing-home ratings system. The lawsuit was filed by California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, and other prosecutors against Brookdale, which operates multiple nursing homes in the state. (Silver-Greenberg, 3/15)
The Hill:
California Sues Nursing Home Chain Over Alleged Medicare 'Manipulation'
California prosecutors on Monday filed a lawsuit against Brookdale Senior Living, the state’s largest nursing home chain, accusing it of manipulating ratings on the federal government’s rating system, as well as illegally discharging patients. The New York Times reports that California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, President Biden's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, filed the lawsuit along with other prosecutors in the Superior Court in California. They accuse Brookdale of winning “undeserved higher star ratings” up until April 2018 by submitting false reports about its staff members. (Choi, 3/15)
