Medicare & Medicaid
The letter's recommendations surround relief, recovery, rebuilding and addressing ongoing challenges in equity, workforce and behavioral health.
The rule would reduce the time providers wait to receive prior authorization from payers to a maximum of 72 hours.
The payments are in addition to the $15 billion already given to nursing homes in the targeted and general distributions of the Provider Relief Fund.
Telehealth is another benefit cited by consumers as Medicare open enrollment ended December 7.
Work requirements have been struck down in lower courts, and the incoming Biden administration may nix them altogether.
Practitioners warn the measure will jeopardize access to lifesaving care for individuals experiencing strokes and aneurysms.
That brings the total number of enrollees to 2.9 million, a slight jump over last year but with more days to sign up over 2019.
A new requirement for the nation's 6,200 hospitals and critical access hospitals is to report their inventory of therapeutics to treat COVID-19.
The model is part of CMMI's suite of direct contracting models and offers incentives to improve care across geographic regions.
One request is for commercial plans to cover all approved COVID-19 therapies without prior authorization and to reimburse hospitals for costs.