Congress passed a funding bill early this morning just after the February 8th deadline. The new legislation will make several changes to the Medicare program, delay cuts to disproportionate share hospitals, provide two years of funding for community health centers, and renew certain expired or expiring health care programs. The legislation increases government funding caps…… Continue reading this entry
Efforts to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with the Graham-Cassidy legislation were unsuccessful as lawmakers rushed to meet the September 30th deadline when the Senate would have lost its current reconciliation vehicle. Changes to the bill were incorporated in order to gain Republican support from a number of holdouts, but with Senator Susan Collins…… Continue reading this entry
With Congress returning to Washington, D.C. from its Memorial Day work period, Senators are focusing heavily on the timeline and details of legislation that would significantly alter the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Over the last week, many senior Senators have expressed skepticism regarding whether they can pass a bill, but Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell…… Continue reading this entry
In a surprising reversal, last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would significantly modify the Affordable Care Act. The legislation, known as the American Health Care Act (the “AHCA”, H.R. 1628), passed on Thursday with a 217-213 party line vote. After cancelling an expected vote on AHCA in March, the House Republicans…… Continue reading this entry
Of the many business, operational, legal, regulatory and clinical obstacles standing in the way of widespread delivery of personalized medicine, the single greatest challenge may lie in solving the reimbursement puzzle. Advocates of personalized medicine contend that it results in better care for the patient, as therapy is targeted specific to an individual, and that … Continue reading this entry
On Jan. 12, 2017, the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the third and final installment of its recent three-part rulemaking effort — a final rule updating its exclusion regulations, 82 Fed. Reg. 4100 (Jan. 12, 2017). This final rule follows two others that were published in December updating the OIG’s civil monetary … Continue reading this entry
President-elect Trump and congressional Republicans have promised to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but there is deep division regarding which provisions will be rescinded and around the details of the replacement and the length of any transition period. Last week the U.S. House and U.S. Senate took the first steps toward achieving … Continue reading this entry