Policy and Legislation

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will lift the rate it pays inpatient hospitals in 2016 by 0.9 percent, the agency announced Friday, as long as facilities participate in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program and demonstrate meaningful use through the use of electronic health records.

Rural healthcare providers on Tuesday told members of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee that current Medicare regulations threaten to shut the doors of more rural hospitals across the United States.

The NOTICE Act would require hospitals to provide written notification to patients 24 hours after receiving observation care, explaining that they have not been admitted to the hospital, the reasons why and the potential financial implications.

U.S. healthcare spending is expected to grow by 5.8 percent through 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said on Tuesday, driven by the rise of expensive specialty drugs and higher insured rates under the Affordable Care Act.

Under the Affordable Care Act, state agencies largely retain the right to regulate premiums in their states, but so far only a handful have finalized premiums for the coming year, for which enrollment begins in November.

Medicare Trustees are projecting that the program's trust fund for hospital insurance coverage will remain solvent until 2030, unchanged from last year, and 13 years longer than the Trustees projected in 2009, before the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Lawmakers in North Carolina are considering a small reform to healthcare permitting, but one that nonetheless pits hospitals -- especially the rurals -- against advocates for more competition.

One fear is there will be added pressure to increase direct federal subsidies for additional exchange customers, possibly creating a new kind of entitlement program.

Under the New York law, patients are generally protected from owing more than their in-network copayment, coinsurance or deductible on bills they receive for out-of-network emergency services or on surprise bills.

While a proposed final rule for accountable care organizations taking part in the Medicare Shared Savings Program showed officials may be listening to concerns, many participating healthcare providers many participating providers say it doesn't go far enough.