On July 16, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule for the Ambulatory Specialty Model (ASM), a mandatory, five-year alternative payment model for select specialists who regularly treat...more
CMS recently announced that it wants to launch a new demonstration program, the Medicare Advantage Qualifying Payment Arrangement Incentive (MAQI) Demonstration. If approved and adopted as a demonstration project, the MAQI...more
Since I began writing this year-end review in 2013, there have been some common themes – a shift to pay for quality and away from fee-for service, much of which has been brought about by the Affordable Care Act (ACA): efforts...more
The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the much-anticipated Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) final rule this month. The rule makes extensive changes to traditional Medicare Part B...more
McDermott’s Managing the Transition to Transformation series is designed to help health systems and other health care industry leaders address the many challenges presented by the transformation in payment and care delivery...more
MACRA (the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015) is bi-partisan legislation that was enacted to change Medicare reimbursement from being based on the current system of volume of services provided to...more
Most of the post-election discussion of the ACA has focused on how promises to repeal the law could impact the newly insured. But one priority area of the ACA that has received very little discussion is the federal...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released its final rule with comment period implementing the bipartisan Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). Among its numerous changes,...more
Many observers view the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) as a game changer for the delivery and payment of health care services. On Oct. 14, 2016 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services...more
On the heels of the release of its final rule implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its 2017 list of Advanced Alternative Payment...more
On Oct. 14, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule with comment period implementing the bipartisan Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The nearly 2,400 pages of...more
On October 14, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule with comment period (Final Rule) implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The Final Rule...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Oct. 14, 2016, released the highly anticipated Final Rule implementing the Medicare physician payment reforms enacted as part of the Medicare Access and CHIP...more
After receiving roughly 4,000 comments to its proposed rule, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on October 14, 2016 released its final rule for implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act...more
Last year President Obama signed into law the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 ("MACRA"). MACRA implemented significant changes in how Medicare reimburses doctors. In particular, MACRA (i) ended the...more
Significant changes to the Medicare payment system are underway. The Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) is set to take effect January 1, 2017. MACRA represents a deliberate departure by the...more
Quality Improvement Organization Releases Guidance on Short-Stay Reviews – As previously reported, in July 2015, CMS announced that Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) would begin conducting reviews of certain inpatient ...more
On October 8 and 9, 2015, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) held its second meeting of the 2015-2016 session. Commissioners met to examine ways to improve the Medicare Advantage (MA) payment system, including...more
On September 28, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking stakeholder comments related to innovative physician payment models required by the Medicare Access...more
On September 8, 2015, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its comments to the proposed rule that will begin implementing the new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) for physician services, in...more