
Pioneers Briefed On Study Implying Hospitals Should Discharge To Lower-Cost Settings
Pioneer ACOs looking to direct patients to lower-cost post-acute care settings recently received a primer on a study funded by the home-health industry that shows patients often could be discharged to lower-cost settings, according to Allen Dobson, president of the health economics firm Dobson | DaVanzo & Associates, which conducted the research.

CAP Report Finds Majority Of Adults Under 30 Will Be Helped By ACA
CBO Analysis Of Health Proposals In President's FY2014 Budget
CMS Issues Interim Final Rule On Payment Rates For PCIP Patients
CMS Finalizes Policies On MLR For Medicare Advantage, Part D
House Budget Committee's Fiscal 2014 Allocations
CMS Issues Exchanges FAQ On Oversight, Reporting Requirements
CMS Announces It Will Accept More Applications For Hospital Bundled Pay Initiative
Republicans Seek GAO Probe Into Sebelius' Solicitation Of Exchange Outreach Donations
GAO: Legislative Modifications Have Adjusted Most Hospitals' Payments
Coburn, Burr Seek To Repeal ACA's Medicaid Expansion FMAP
Ways & Means Oversight GOPs Queries HHS On Health Exchange Navigators
CMS Releases Funding Opportunity Announcement for Round Two of the Health Care Innovation Awards
Consumers Union Pushes Education On ACA Tax Credits
Senate Committee Unveils Updated Drug Compounding Bill, Markup Slated For Next Week
CMS To Lower Provider Pay Rates In Federally-Run PCIP, Prohibit Balance Billing
In an effort to further contain costs so the program lasts through the end of the year, CMS says provider payment rates in federally-run Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans starting June 15 will be set at Medicare rates for most covered medical services.
PA Lawmakers Push To Extend Coordinated Care Demo With One Participant
A bipartisan group of lawmakers from Pennsylvania has asked CMS to extend the Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration, which is slated to terminated June 30, because they say it saves money and improves care, if only for the riskiest patients at a single demo location.
PhRMA, BIO Urge FDA To Discuss Benefit/Risk Framework In Review Meetings
A framework FDA is developing to evaluate a drug's benefits and risks should be used during mid- and late-cycle meetings with sponsors, advisory committee reviews and be fully integrated into the agency's review process, drug industry trade groups told the agency in response to its proposed plan.
CMS Applies MLR To Drug Plans Despite Strong Opposition From Insurers, PBMs
In a loss for drug plans, CMS is applying to Part D a health law provision dictating what portion of income from premiums plans must spend on clinical services.
MACPAC Meeting Spurs Talk Of Revamping 1115 Waivers To Push Innovation
Revamping the Medicaid 1115 waiver process to focus less on budget-neutrality and more on permanent payment and delivery reform was floated by some congressional Medicaid payment advisers this week, drawing interest from Medicaid officials, as a top CMS official acknowledged the agency already exercises some flexibility in enforcing the budget-neutrality rule.
MACPAC Sees Potential Concerns In DSH Cut Targeting Methodology
CMS' proposed formula for calculating cuts to Medicaid disproportionate share payments is designed to incentivize states to target DSH payments to the most needy hospitals, Congress' Medicaid payment and access advisers said, but commission members expressed concerns that lag time between CMS' calculations and any changes to state policy may take away from those incentives.
GOP's ACA Repeal Vote Spurs White House Bid To Build ACA Network
Hours before the House GOP voted 229-195 in favor of repealing the health reform law, the White House sent out an email plugging key pieces of the law that are viewed as appealing to the Middle Class and urged recipients to sign into a White House website to become part of a network for future ACA messaging.
FDA Diabetic Supply Meeting May Spur Press For Medicare Competitive Bidding Shift
Diabetic test supply makers will present research to FDA Tuesday (May 21) showing that the quality of supplies varies significantly, and makers of diabetic supplies could use that research to press CMS to shift diabetic test supplies from the Medicare competitive bidding program, where it is difficult for higher-quality products to compete at set rates, to Part D, where drug plans negotiate prices with product makers, sources say.
Energy And Commerce Approves Drug Tracing Bill, Rejects Democrats' Changes
Democrats floated four amendments, including one that would bring the House drug traceability bill more in line with the Senate's plan for an electronic interoperable unit-level tracing system, although they were unsuccessful in forging changes before the bill passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday (May 15).
CMS: Next Round Of Innovation Grants To Focus On Four Reform Models
CMS' Innovation Center is planning a second round of health care innovation grants that will divvy up $1 billion for creative projects focused on four specific payment and delivery reform models that fill in what CMMI Director Richard Gilfillan said Wednesday (May 15) were identified as gaps after the first round.
Labor/HHS Gets Cut, FDA-Ag Maintains Funding In House GOP Proposal
House Republicans are proposing a more than 20 percent cut to HHS, Labor and Education funding in fiscal 2014, while holding nearly steady the amount . . .
GOP Senators Introduce Bill To Stop ICD-10 Implementation
A group of Republican senators introduced legislation to stop the adoption of ICD-10 due to concerns the coding requirements will increase compliance costs across the . . .
Energy & Commerce Plans Third Drug Compounding Hearing
The House Energy and Commerce Committee's health panel will hold a hearing on drug compounding Thursday (May 23), marking the first drug compounding hearing for . . .
CMS Lets More Hospitals Apply To Participate In Bundled Pay Initiative
CMS announced Thursday (May 16) that it will accept applications from additional hospitals to participate in Model 1 of the agency's bundled payment initiative.
Model 1 . . .
As Expected, House GOP Votes To Repeal Health Care Law
In a party-line vote, House Republicans on Thursday voted 229-195 to repeal the Affordable Care Act. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) kicked off the repeal . . .

