On Tuesday, March 15, President Joe Biden signed a $1.5 trillion spending bill that included a number of health-related provisions. This includes financial assistance for a biomedical research agency, an extension of Medicare telehealth waivers and funding to address concerns regarding maternal mortality.
Notably, House Speaker...
The official number of global deaths from COVID-19 surpassed six million on Monday, 4% of which were recorded in the last month. The United States is very close to reaching a million deaths on its own, and Arizona's death count exceeded the 28,000 marker this week.
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) COVID-19...
The public health emergency (PHE) related to the COVID-19 pandemic is currently slated to expire on April 15, but is expected to be renewed for an additional 90 days. State Medicaid programs are concerned that they will not be granted enough time to complete Medicaid enrollee redeterminations, which have been paused for the duration of...National News
The Biden administration has pledged to provide Americans with better in-roads to health coverage and to even the playing field for people at a systemic disadvantage from receiving adequate healthcare. This week, a number of policy decisions highlight the administration's commitment to these goals in Medicare coverage, health equity and...National News
On February 24, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it would release an additional $560 million in Provider Relief Fund (PRF) payments for healthcare providers who have reported losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds will be released by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and...National News
A federal judge for the eastern district of Texas struck down a controversial aspect of the No Surprises Act last week, leaving in place protections for patients but siding with providers that a qualifying payment amount is not the appropriate out-of-network rate.
The No Surprises act formally went into effect on January 1 of this...National News
On February 1, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) Office of Health Policy filed an issue brief on a national survey that found disparities in use of telehealth services in 2021.
The survey polled 808,368 American adults and found that nearly a quarter of...National News
The Direct Contracting payment model, devised under President Donald Trump's Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), grows more controversial as it has ended up in the crosshairs of Congressional progressives. But some Democrats and industry advocates support the payment model remaining on the table.
Early this month, more...National News
Medicare Advantage and the hundreds of investors pumping venture capital into new MA startups rely on one thing: MA growth. For the past several years, MA has been on a quick trend upward, but as it currently only captures under 50% of the market, some are left wondering if the seemingly endless demand isn't just a giant investment...National News
The No Surprises Act, which intends to end the practice of surprise billing by banning most surprise bills from out-of-network providers went into effect on January 1. The rule will effect not only all emergency care billing and "most" nonemergency billing but will also require uninsured patients receive overviews of anticipated costs...
On December 14, there were 116,892 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the United States and the seven day case average is 120,719. On December 15, the nation added 1,285 new deaths and crossed the 800,000 mark for deaths related to the coronavirus. About 61% of Americans are fully vaccinated and two million doses are administered daily,...
Last Tuesday, providers gathered in Washington, D.C. to advocate against the Medicare direct contracting program, arguing that it could become the end of Medicare.
Members of Physicians for a national Health Program (PNHP), which supports a single-payer healthcare system brought petitions to appeal to U.S. Department of Health and...
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which concerns a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. A ruling that upholds the law would directly challenge Roe v. Wade, the 1974 court ruling that legalized abortion in all 50...
Cases are on a slow uptick nationwide with new cases on Tuesday, November 23 totaling 92,785. The rolling seven-day average for new cases is 95,481. There were 1,474 new deaths nationally and the total number of deaths nationally is now over 775,000. About 70% of the country has received at least one dose of the vaccine and just under...Open
On Wednesday, November 10, the state of Arizona reported 3,794 new cases of COVID-19 and 39 new dates related to COVID-19. The figures came after four straight days of case counts over 3,000, but do not represent a downward trend. This brings the state total of deaths related to COVID-19 to 21,525. Nearly 60% of eligible individuals have...National News
After months of negotiations, the Build Back Better Act is taking form as a bill that appeases the concerns of most Congressional Democrats, including holdouts like Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). The bill will now include a number of healthcare-related solutions and improvements to public health insurance programs...
On Wednesday, Arizona reported 2,180 new cases of COVID-19 and 124 deaths related to COVID-19. This brings the total of COVID-19 related deaths to 21,273. There were 20,976 vaccine doses administered in Arizona on Wednesday, including booster shots. 59% of the state is vaccinated. The number of intensive care unit beds in use also rose,...
On Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule for the Calendar Year (CY) 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). The PFS includes policy changes for Medicare payments and Medicare Part B, and is the major mechanism for rate setting for the Medicare program as a whole. The PFS must remain budget...
Nationwide, community transmission of COVID-19 remains high and 77.8% of Americans over the age of 12 have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Over 190 million people have been fully vaccinated and 14.4 million have received a booster dose. In Arizona, over 8 million vaccine doses have been administered with 58.9% of...
Medicare Advantage is under pressure to demonstrate its cost-savings for the Medicare program following a report for the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that suggests Medicare Advantage (MA) plans "may have inappropriately" leveraged chart reviews and health risk assessments to...
