Articles and Blogs

MedPAC Considers 1% Payment Increase for Hospitals On December 6, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (“MedPAC”) discussed draft recommendations calling for a 1% increase in inpatient and outpatient hospital payments in 2013.  MedPAC, an independent body that advises Congress on Medicare payment policy, is scheduled to vote on the recommendations when they reconvene on... READ MORE

Hospitals Lobby Congress on Doc Fix Hospital groups were on the Hill this week lobbying members to protect their current level of Medicare reimbursements.  A recent proposal from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (“MedPAC”), which advises Congress on Medicare payment policy, would lower the hospital payments to the amount a physician would receive in... READ MORE

States Get More Time to Decide on Exchange In response to criticism from Republican governors, HHS moved back the deadline for states to declare whether they will set up their own health insurance exchanges or adopt the federal model. The deadline to file letters of intent is now December 14, 2012. While states must... READ MORE

CMS Issues 2013 Hospital Outpatient Rule Final Rule On November 1, 2012, CMS finalized the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (“OPPS”) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (“ASC”) rule.  The 2013 final rule updates Medicare payment policies and rates for hospital outpatient and ASC services beginning January 1, 2013. READ MORE

Congress Eyes E/M Cuts to Pay for “Doc Fix” On Tuesday, a Democrat congressional aide on the Senate Finance Committee suggested that cuts to non-emergency evaluation and management (“E/M”) services may be considered as a way to offset the cost of “doc fix” legislation Congress must pass before the end of the year.  The... READ MORE

Hall Render Discusses Health Law Reform on Capitol Hill As part of ongoing initiatives to persuade Congress to reform the Stark Law and remove fraud and abuse law barriers that hinder the expansion of telemedicine, Hall Render attorneys recently conducted another round of meetings with congressional staff on Capitol Hill, including House Energy and... READ MORE

Administration Warns Hospitals on Gaming EHR System On September 24, HHS Secretary Sebelius and Attorney General Holder sent a joint letter to the five major hospital trade associations warning against using electronic health records (“EHRs”) to artificially inflate Medicare and Medicaid payments. READ MORE

Mark McClellan and Hall Render Discuss the Future of  Health Care Reform On Thursday, former CMS Director Mark McClellan met with Hall Render attorneys for a discussion on the future of health care reform in the United States.  Mr. McClellan, who also served as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration under President George... READ MORE

White House Set to Release Sequestration Report On September 14, the White House was set to release a report detailing how funding for federal programs would be cut were sequestration to go forward on January 2, 2013.  However, as of press time, it had not been released.  The report was statutorily required under the Sequestration... READ MORE

MedPAC Debates Hospital Readmissions; Necessity of Geographic Adjustments for Physicians On September 6-7, Congress’s Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (“MedPAC”) held a meeting to discuss the hospital readmissions policy as well as the necessity of geographic adjustments for physicians. The MedPAC findings stated the readmissions policy is headed in the right direction but could be refined through maintaining... READ MORE