Although day-to-day life in the U.S. has largely moved on from COVID-19, the Biden administration is continuing to pursue coordinated efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and urge Congress to increase funding for antiviral treatments and preparation for future surges.
In Arizona, there were 2,350 new cases of COVID-19 and 99 new...
In response to the coronavirus, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) granted a special enrollment period (SEP) for Medicare beneficiaries through the end of June, giving Part D, Medicare Advantage and Medigap insurers an additional sales window. The SEP applies to those who were unable to enroll due to the pandemic....CMS Rules
Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are asking for more support from the Trump administration amid the pandemic. ACOs want more time to decide on whether to voluntarily exit the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) as coronavirus-related financial losses and balance sheet deficits pile up.
With payments tied to spending and...National News
The global pandemic has forced industries across all sectors to adapt or risk insolvency. Firms have transitioned operations worldwide into the homes of their employees and healthcare is attempting to do the same by streamlining payments to increase home-based care access.
According to Humana executives, the coronavirus should...CMS Rules
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized requirements seeking to increase access to telehealth for seniors in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. The changes made to MA and Medicare Part D also expand supplemental benefit options for beneficiaries with chronic diseases.
CMS will grant MA plans more flexibility to...Arizona News
Facilities that care and house large numbers of elderly folks are being ravaged by COVID-19 - an incredibly contagious virus particularly deadly for older people.
Just 6.7% of Americans are over 75-years-old, but that population accounts for nearly 60% of the country’s COVID deaths.
According to the Maricopa County...Arizona News
Coronavirus cases are beginning to infiltrate Arizona prisons and the odds are stacked against the facilities where inmates live in close quarters, bathe communally and have little opportunity for isolation, all while being under the same roof as another few hundred people for 24 hours, seven days a week.
The conditions are even...Arizona News
A dire jobs report last week revealed a 14.7% unemployment rate for the month of April, exacerbating the pandemics impact on the economy. Healthcare represented 7% of the country's job losses, tripling it's rate in just one month.
The healthcare industry has fluctuated since the beginning of the outbreak as optimism on vaccine...CMS Rules
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final payment notice for 2021 last week as the Trump administration finalized a string of regulatory changes to Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. The agency's rule outlines ACA plan regulations that impact qualified health plans (QHP) for the 2021 coverage...National News
COVID-19 has rapidly changed the way healthcare looks in America, and Medicare Advantage is caught in the heart of the storm.
According to Kaiser Family Foundation, enrollment in MA plans more than doubled in the last decade, from 11.1 to 24.1 million. But now, the pandemic poses a particular threat to MA’s beneficiaries,...Arizona News
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the face of healthcare as we know it. As in-person visits become in many cases impossible, the role of telemedicine has become essential.
In Arizona and elsewhere, healthcare providers are turning to technology to deliver care at a distance like never before.
Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, an...Arizona News
The coronavirus outbreak has profoundly impacted the facilities who care for those most vulnerable to it: nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities (SNF).
This week, AZCentral reported that SNF residents currently account for nearly half of Maricopa and Pima Counties’ COVID-19 deaths. According to a Maricopa County...Arizona News
The coronavirus pandemic poses a myriad of problems for healthcare entities across the country and many see telemedicine as a solution to some of them.
Providers have been gradually implementing telemedicine services slowly for years. But as the need for separation between people has become suddenly paramount, the pace of its...Arizona News
Hospitals and providers participating in Medicare quality value-based purchasing programs received unprecedented relief on Sunday from a Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announcement that relaxes reporting requirements and extends data submission deadlines.
The action is part of the Trump Administration's response...Arizona News
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey drew Betlach out of retirement on March 20 to take the temporary special assignment for 75 days while the Arizona Department of Economic Security's current Director Dr. Cara Christ leads Arizona’s response to COVID-19.
After nearly a decade at the Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment System and nearly 20...Arizona News
As Arizona braces for an escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak, Banner Health and other hospitals are reckoning with the possibility of significant resource shortages.
A side by side comparison of Arizona hospital beds and CDC projections paints a dire picture.
On Monday, Holly Ward of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare...News
Three major hospital groups penned a letter, addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging Congress to suspend the mandated Medicare sequester for the duration of the pandemic.
Established by the Budget Control Act in 2011, the federal sequester cuts government spending by more than $1 trillion for the 2021 fiscal year and it would...National News
As the number of coronavirus cases rises, so does concern about cost of treating the projected 27 million Americans without health coverage. The Trump administration, specifically the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), have participated in discussions and congressional...Arizona News
As American hospitals stare down the coronavirus, health care workers worry about their employers’ preparedness and their own personal safety.
The global coronavirus threat escalated last week as cases soared and spread to new countries, the CDC announced its inevitable proliferation into the US, and financial markets crashed...Arizona News
This week CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease Dr. Nancy Messonnier said the question is no longer if the coronavirus, now officially called COVID-19, will spread across the United States, but when that will happen.
In late January, a Maricopa County resident was diagnosed with the virus and had...
