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

Governor Hobbs Signs End of Session Budget

The state government narrowly avoided shutdown this week as Governor Katie Hobbs compromised with the Arizona House and Senate on a $17.6 billion bipartisan budget bill. AHCCCS gets full funding and a mandate to offer extensions to all contracted...
Arizona News

Federal Judge Orders HHS to Halt Mass Firings

Mass firings and structural overhauls at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) were halted by a federal court this week in response to a lawsuit filed by 19 states, including Arizona, and the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs allege that HHS under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s purview has violated the...
Arizona News

CMMI to Test New Prior Authorization for Traditional Medicare in Arizona

This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center (CMMI) announced a new model that will employ AI and machine learning to test ways to integrate prior authorization into traditional fee-for-service Medicare. The model will launch with providers in Arizona, Washington, New Jersey and Texas. The model,...
CMS Rules

CMS Proposes 6.4% Cut to Home Health Services

On Monday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the proposed home health prospective payment system rule for 2026, which would substantially cut Medicare payments to home health agencies. The prospective payment system update calls for a 6.4% cut to home health payments in 2026, or roughly $1.135 billion....
News

Rural Hospitals at Risk of 20% Cuts in Big Beautiful Bill

The National Rural Health Association partnered with Manatt Health to review the effects that the Medicaid cuts proposed in the reconciliation One Big Beautiful Bill Act (BBB) would have on health care delivery in rural areas. It found that the reduction in Medicaid reimbursement could result in hospital closures. The report...
Arizona News

ACIP Panel Meets, Jeopardizes Vaccine Coverage, Market

Earlier this month, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK) fired every panel member on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and replaced them with eight vaccine skeptics. The decision to remove members of the independent vaccine...
National News

Insurers Agree to Improve Prior Authorization in HHS Brokered Deal

Nearly 50 health insurance companies signed onto a pledge with the federal government to streamline prior authorizations on Monday. The new practices will apply across all forms of private health insurance. For years, private insurance companies have weathered criticism of the prior authorization process as providers and patients...
National News

Trump Administration Stumbles All Over HHS

The Trump administration's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is hitting some snags in implementing its sweeping policy overhauls that could radically change the regulation and oversight of healthcare across all sectors. On Tuesday, a federal court in Massachusetts struck down the mass cancelation of grants by the National...
White Papers, E books, Reports and more

REPORT: 2025 Milliman Medical Index

Published late last month, the 2024 Milliman Medical Index, which estimates annual healthcare costs for people covered by employer sponsored plans, showed that the cost of covering a family of four through workplace insurance has tripled in 20 years. The average cost of workplace insurance is $35,119 for a family of four or $7,871 for...

National Institutes of Health Policy Overhaul Experiences Blowback

Following the ambitious overhaul of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), underway since the start of the Trump administration, backlash to new policies and fallout from funding and staffing cuts are coming to light. Dozens of scientists and researchers for the National Institutes of Health issued a public rebuke of the Trump...
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