By William Hyman – On December 18th CMS presented a webinar on the Promoting Interoperability Program as applied to Inpatient Prospective Payments. Among the other content the webinar included changes from 2018 to 2019, and from 2019 to 2020.
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The Health Plan Identifier is designed to furnish a standard way to identify health plans in electronic transactions. The Health Plan Identifier is a standard, unique health plan identifier required by the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Check out these FAQs.
Pathways to Success – this new direction for the Shared Savings Program redesigns the participation options available under the program to encourage Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to transition to performance based risk more quickly and, for eligible ACOs, incrementally, to increase savings for the Trust Funds.
You can now check the Quality Payment Program Participation Status Tool to view your final 2018 eligibility status for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System.
The final performance period for the Value Modifier and PQRS programs was 2016 and the final payment adjustment year is 2018. Therefore, the Quality and Resource Use Reports and PQRS Feedback Reports will no longer be available after the end of 2018.
Overall national health spending grew at a rate of 3.9 percent in 2017, almost 1.0 percentage point slower than growth in 2016, according to a study conducted by the Office of the Actuary at CMS and published as a Web First by Health Affairs.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through CMS, announced and sought input on a new “International Pricing Index” (IPI) payment model to reduce what Americans pay for prescription drugs.
By William A. Hyman – The latest final rule release on physician payments is replete with assertions of burden reduction and cost savings. Without various addenda, the rule comes in at a mere 2378 pages, 2063 for the discussion and 315 for the rule itself.
The final 2019 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and the Quality Payment Program (QPP) rule released. And CMS finalized innovative changes to the Medicare payment rules for Durable Medical Equipment Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies and the End-Stage Renal Disease programs.