Oct 19, 2020 | Hospice, Medicare, Medicare Advantage
CMS announced that nine MA organization have elected to participate in the voluntary hospice demo starting in January 2021, covering nearly 575,000 enrollees in 2020, or about 2.5% of overall MA enrollment. The demonstration program allows MA plans to cover hospice services, which under current statute are covered only under fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare. Congress would need to act to make hospice a permanent part of the MA benefit. Click to read more.
Oct 16, 2020 | Managed Care Friday
68: Percent of older adults exactly one year ago who said the quality of care during a telehealth encounter would not be as good as a face-to-face visit, according to a University of Michigan poll on aging, with half saying they did not feel personally connected to the healthcare professional and four in ten reporting difficultly seeing or hearing. The poll asked a national sample of 2,200 adults, ages 50 to 80, about their ‘tele’ experience and, welp, things sure have changed. By May, according to our own poll of 1,362 adult parents aged 35-55, 51% preferred virtual over in-person as...
Oct 13, 2020 | Legislation/ Budgets/ Macro
The Supreme Court is scheduled for oral arguments on the constitutionality of the individual mandate on November 10, 2020. A final decision will likely be made in the summer of 2021, with the preponderance of potential outcomes having only modest impacts on the healthcare sector. Hospitals, Medicaid MCOs, and behavioral providers are at risk of the downside scenarios. Click to read more.
