Medicare & Medicaid
CMS Administrator Seema Verma gave no timetable, but the agency said reopening would only happen in phase three.
Proposed changes to the inpatient prospective payment system would speed approval of new technology add-on payments for antimicrobials.
Providers need time to prepare to implement the final rule, scheduled to go in effect Jan. 1, 2021, at a time when they are facing the coronavirus pandemic and its resulting financial issues.
Insurers get a one-week extension to finalize 2021 exchange plan applications, giving them time to analyze the effect of COVID-19 in setting premiums.
$12 billion is going to 395 hospitals that provided inpatient care for 100 or more COVID-19 patients.
The interim rule is extending the mitigation of shared losses back to January 2020.
The rules move the healthcare system from an environment built by providers and payers to one in which patients are in control, Rucker says.
The agency's goal is to ensure states and localities have the flexibility they need to ramp up diagnostic testing and access to medical care.
In total, $40-plus billion will be distributed to hospitals, pay for uninsured and target hot spots, rural providers and Indian Health Service.
The funds will go to 1,779 small rural hospitals and 14 Telehealth Resource Centers.