Melanie MacEachern

Freelance writer with skills and knowledge in healthcare policy, reproductive justice and art history. Skilled administrative assistant. Graduated from University of Michigan.

Author's Posts

Arizona News

Funding Cuts Send Bioscience Sector into Disarray

The biomedical research community is reeling from federal cuts as Arizona's bioscience sector tracks its ongoing success and significance as an economic force for the state. Universities are facing a loss of $6.5 billion in total funding, and while a judge has issued a permanent injunction on cuts after a lawsuit brought by the...
Medicaid Cuts: Federal Match Rates Are Back on the Menu Arizona News

Medicaid Cuts: Federal Match Rates Are Back on the Menu

This week, Congressional Republicans continue the search for Medicaid tax cuts, this time by returning to reductions of the federal match and the implementation of a per capita spending cap to the negotiating table. It remains clear that Medicaid work requirements alone will be insufficient for total cuts, especially as plan utilization...
Arizona News

Gov. Hobbs Signs Sober Living Home Regulatory Bill

The Arizona State Legislature passed a bill that will increase oversight of sober living homes following a major statewide scandal over a Medicaid fraud scheme targeting Native Americans seeking drug and alcohol treatment. Senate Bill 1655, proposed by Democratic State Senator Theresa Hatathlie, failed to pass the House Health and...
Arizona News

Medicaid Work Requirements Emerge as a Front-Runner for Cutting Medicaid

We know that Medicaid cuts are on the table for the upcoming Trump budget negotiations, but until recently, the form that those cuts would take was unclear. Now, consensus among supporters of the cuts appears to be coalescing around work requirements for state Medicaid programs, despite decades of data demonstrating that they are...
SCOTUS Appears Unlikely to Overturn Preventative Care Coverage National News

SCOTUS Appears Unlikely to Overturn Preventative Care Coverage

Key members of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared unlikely to overturn a key provision of the Affordable Care Act during a hearing on Monday. Plaintiffs argued that the requirements for preventative care coverage under the ACA are unconstitutional because the volunteer board that oversees recommendations on the services should be...
National News

UHG Slides in Q1 Due to Increased Utilization in MA

UnitedHealth Group, which owns the health insurance titan UnitedHealthcare, has reported some fiscal turbulence over the past year, culminating in a first quarter (Q1) earnings report to investors that was decidedly disappointing. In its Q1 report last Thursday, UHG decided to downgrade its annual net earnings guidance from $29.50-$30...
Arizona News

HHS Firings Continue As Kennedy Spreads MAHA Agenda

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is settling into his new role as firings within the agency continue to disrupt the agency. The Reduction in Force (RIF) initiative was announced to have reduced the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by 10,000 earlier this spring, and National Law Review...
CMS Rules

CMS Proposes FY 2026 Hospital IPPS Increase - AHA Asks Agency to Reconsider

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a proposed rule for the Medicare inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) for fiscal year (FY) 2026. The rule includes a proposed pay bump of 2.4% for hospitals. CMS said that the rate reflects a 3.2% projected hospital market basket increase with a 0.8% productivity adjustment...
CMS Rules

CMS Proposes Increasing IRF PPS and Reducing QRP Measures for FY 2026

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a rule under the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) Prospective Payment System (PPS) and the IRF Quality Reporting Program (QRP) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. The agency proposes updating the payment rates by 2.6% based on the IRF market basket update of 3.4%, minus...
CMS Rules

CMS Boosts SNF Rates in Proposed PPS for FY 2026

The skilled nursing industry was elated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS) proposed rule, which included a 2.8% pay bump for FY 2026 and some other breaks that could reduce SNF costs. The rate hike falls far short of the 4.2% raise that SNFs...
Arizona AG Joins Call to Congress to Ban PBMs Arizona News

Arizona AG Joins Call to Congress to Ban PBMs

Countless critics of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have raised the alarm about the sector's excessive profits, but despite the best efforts of lawmakers at all levels, they still operate relatively unchecked. This week, a bipartisan coalition of dozens of attorneys general submitted a letter to Congress urging them to pass a law...
Impact of Potential Medicaid Cuts on LTC, Hospitals & AHCCCS Arizona News

Impact of Potential Medicaid Cuts on LTC, Hospitals & AHCCCS

To date, there is no set plan to cut Medicaid yet industry stakeholders and political analysts continue to speculate on the potential targets and magnitude of potential funding changes for the program that now insures 79 million Americans or 24% of the U.S. population. The Trump administration launched its radical overhaul of the...
MA Gets 5% Bump in New Rule CMS Rules

MA Gets 5% Bump in New Rule

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final Medicare Advantage technical rule that removes regulations for the use of artificial intelligence but maintains a Biden-era provision that restricts plans from modifying approved hospital decisions, and raises MA funding by 5%. The rule also removed proposals for...
Judge Vacates Federal Nursing Home Staffing Minimums Rule CMS Rules

Judge Vacates Federal Nursing Home Staffing Minimums Rule

On Monday, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the federal rule requiring nursing home staffing minimums was unconstitutional, sending sighs of relief throughout the long-term care sector. The rule, rolled out by former President Joe Biden's administration last year, would have required nursing homes to maintain a registered nurse on...
Arizona News

How HHS Public Health Cuts Hurt Local Infrastructure

Funding cuts from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are already having consequences nationwide and across Arizona. The temporary halt on the cancellation of $11 billion in public health funding will keep the $239 million allotted to Arizona in the state for now, but the threat has already cost some crucial jobs....
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