The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has collaborated with standards development organizations and a large community of experts to release the Project US@ (USA) Draft Technical Specification Version 1.0 for public comment.
Project US@ was created to...
Through the Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS released revised reporting requirements for recipients of Provider Relief Fund payments. The announcement includes expanding the amount of time providers will have to report information; the extension aims to reduce the burden on smaller providers.
On June 11, the Biden...
Since February 15, 1.2 million consumers, nearly 24,000 in Arizona, have enrolled in the Affordable Care Act’s Healthcare.gov marketplace plans as a result of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Special Enrollment Period for the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
CMS released a new report that shows that more than 1 million new and...National News
Last Friday, President Joe Biden revealed his $6 trillion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2022. As anticipated, the president focuses on infrastructure, but unlike his predecessors includes big increases in health care spending as part of that infrastructure.
Most notably, the proposal includes a 23% increase for the U.S. Department...CMS Rules
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule last Wednesday that delays the implementation of a Trump-era rule which would incentivize the use of value-based drug pricing agreements for the Medicaid program. The original version of the regulation was finalized in December 2021, but the Biden...National News
Last week the Department of Justice announced criminal charges against 14 defendants in seven federal districts across the country for allegedly participating in various healthcare fraud schemes that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in over $143 million in false billings before being blocked.
As well a the DOJ, the...Arizona News
In May, 35 hospitals and healthcare organizations reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights that nearly 2.7 million people were affected by data breaches.
The medical industry is a huge target for ransomware scams and hacking. Massive amounts of patient health information create an...CMS Rules
Last week, President Joe Biden announced that he would roll back a controversial Trump-era rule that would have required green card applicants and other immigrants to demonstrate that they would have health insurance upon arrival to the U.S. The so-called "public charge" rule would have allowed the government to deny visa applications if...Arizona News
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a 25% drop in premiums for new enrollees on HealthCare.gov. During the 2021 special enrollment period, and as a result of Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, nearly 940,000 enrollees have joined plans offered on the exchange, according to Healthpayer Intelligence....CMS Rules
On Sunday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued two proposed rules for inpatient and long-term care hospitals. The first aims to fund medical residency positions in hospitals in rural and underserved communities in order to address workforce shortages in those areas and would require hospitals to report COVID-19...National News
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the availability of $1 billion for Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center Program to support major construction and renovation projects across the country. The funding builds on President Biden's commitment to ensuring equity in access to COVID-19...News
In a retrospective analysis of post-acute claims by The American Journal of Managed Care, patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage have better outcomes and lower cost following skilled nursing facility discharge than patients enrolled in traditional fee-for-service Medicare.
Medicare Advantage v.s. traditional Medicare
Established...Arizona News
There were 649 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Arizona Wednesday, bringing the state total to 855,804. Six new deaths were reported, and will be retroactively reassigned to the dates on which the deaths took place. COVID-19 patients occupy 10% of intensive care unit beds and 14% of available hospital beds.
This information comes...
Throughout the 2020 presidential campaign, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to improve maternal healthcare, especially for women of color, nationwide. While disparities in healthcare between race and gender groups are receiving renewed scrutiny, the Biden-Harris administration is also moving to make sexual and...
Under the American Rescue Plan (ARP), Medicaid expansion and 12-month continuous eligibility for pregnant and postpartum women will play an important role in ensuring continuity of care and aid in combatting disparities in maternal mortality rates.
During the pandemic, pregnant women and new mothers have had to navigate virtual...
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted to recommend Congress create a new value incentive program to reward skilled nursing facilities for good performance. MedPAC also approved a recommendation for Congress to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to develop and begin to report patient experience measures for...Government
The U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services Office of Inspector General conducted a review of 320 hospitals nationwide. The review is designed to provide a national perspective from front-line hospital administrators on how responding to the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their capacity to care for patients, staff and communities....National News
Unsurprisingly, the Affordable Care Act has received a lot of attention and support since President Joe Biden took office. The Act got a boost for its special enrollment period from the American Rescue Plan, despite a hefty price tag. And the Biden administration appointed a friend to the ACA in Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier...Arizona News
23.1% of Arizonans have received at least one shot of the vaccine and 13.1% of the population is completely vaccinated. 81.8% of Arizona's doses have been used so far, with 2.7 million doses administered of 3.1 million doses delivered. Across the country, 34 doses have been administered for every 100 people and 77% of the shots delivered...Arizona News
A new lawsuit brought by AARP contends a CMS policy weakened enforcement of financial penalties for nursing homes and must be reversed to restore protections for nursing home residents.
The American Association of Retired Persons engaged the law firm Constance Cannon to file the lawsuit against CMS and outgoing HHS secretary Alex...
