Apr 11, 2018 | Medicare Advantage
On April 3, CMS released the 2019 Medicare Advantage (MA) Final Call Letter. The final rates are aligned with previous years’ trends, resulting in an increase in plan payment of 3.4% before taking into account expected payment increases from coding intensity trends. This is the biggest increase in years, and should help continue the explosive growth in MA enrollment seen over the past 10 years. Separately from rate setting, CMS finalized its proposal to expand the supplemental benefits that MA plans can offer, potentially making MA an even more attractive option for Medicare beneficiaries,...
Apr 3, 2018 | Legislation/ Budgets/ Macro, Medicare
Each year, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) releases scores of reports on Medicare and Medicaid payment topics. So far, several reports have been issued already in 2018 and the OIG recently updated its work plan to make public other topics its currently working on. Click to read more.
Apr 2, 2018 | Legislation/ Budgets/ Macro
The FY 2018 Appropriations have finally been completed. Discretionary accounts relevant to the healthcare sector, such as FDA, NIH and CDC have received modest increases over FY 2017 funding levels. Programs related to opioid treatment and prevention have received more than $3 billion of additional spending. The omnibus did not contain any additional subsidies to insurance companies participating in the ACA exchanges. Click to read more.
Mar 28, 2018 | Physical Therapy
In a review of 300 physical therapy claims, a new HHS OIG report found that 61% of physical therapy claims do not meet Medicare requirements. However, CMS’s response questioned the accuracy of the OIG findings. Click to read more.
