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On November 1, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a proposed rule titled “21st Century Cures Act: Establishment of Disincentives for Health Care Providers That Have Committed Information Blocking” (the Proposed Rule). The Proposed Rule, if finalized, would create disincentives for health care providers that the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) determines have committed “information blocking” (as defined at 45 C.F.R. § 171.103).Continue Reading HHS Proposes Disincentives for Providers that Commit Information Blocking

On July 6, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed its calendar year 2021 End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) rule. ESRD PPS rules are promulgated on an annual basis, providing updates to payment policies and rates for renal dialysis services furnished to beneficiaries. The 2021 proposed rule also proposes to update the acute kidney injury (AKI) dialysis payment rate for renal dialysis services furnished by ESRD facilities to individuals with AKI, and proposes changes to the ESRD Quality Incentive Program. In addition to the annual technical updates, the 2021 rule proposes, at a high level:

  • Changes to the eligibility criteria and determination process for the transitional add-on payment adjustment for new and innovative equipment and supplies (TPNIES), and defining “new” to be within three years, beginning on the date of the FDA marketing authorization;
  • Expansion of the TPNIES to include new and innovative capital-related assets that are home dialysis machines, used in the home for a single patient;
  • Updates to the outlier policy and outlier services fixed-dollar loss amounts as well as the Medicare allowable payment amounts;
  • An addition to the ESRD PPS base rate to include calcimimetics in the ESRD PPS bundled payment;
  • A change to the low-volume payment adjustment eligibility criteria and attestation requirement to account for the COVID-19 public health emergency; and
  • An update to the ESRD PPS wage index to adopt the new Office of Management and Budget (OMB) delineations with a transition period.

Continue Reading CMS Proposes 2021 End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System Rule

On October 9, 2019 the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule making changes to the Physician Self-Referral Law (PSR Rule), also called the Stark Law. Among other revisions to the PSR Rule, the proposed rule would modify the group practice special rule that allows physician profit sharing in certain circumstances. Under the proposed rule, the “overall profits” group practice physicians can share must be a combination of all designated health services (DHS) profits, not just the DHS profits from the type of service the physician renders. The clarification is significant as it resolves lingering uncertainty regarding proper compensation arrangements for group practice physicians.
Continue Reading CMS Proposes Rule Clarifying Physician Self-Referral Law Rules for Group Practice Profit Sharing

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a Proposed Rule to amend Medicare Advantage (MA) regulations and Prescription Drug Benefit program (Part D) regulations.  The Proposed Rule was published on November 30, 2018. The Proposed Rule is intended to help lower drug prices for health and drug plans and reduce out-of-pocket costs for MA and Part D enrollees. Major provisions include: Providing Plans with increased flexibility in managing drug formularies. Current policy requires Part D formularies to include all drugs in the following categories: (1) antidepressants; (2) antipsychotics; (3) anticonvulsants; (4) immunosuppressants for treatment of transplant rejection; (5) antiretrovirals; and (6) antineoplastics; except in limited circumstances. The Proposed Rule includes three exceptions, allowing: (1) broader use of prior authorization and step therapy; (2) exclusion of drugs that are only a new formulation of an existing single-source drug or biological product, regardless of whether the older formulation remains on the market; and (3) exclusion of drugs with a price increase beyond an inflation-based threshold relative to a baseline month and year.
Continue Reading CMS Proposes Revised Prescription Drug Regulations to Lower Drug Prices and Reduce Out of Pocket Expenses

On August 17, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule (Proposed Rule) that proposes a comprehensive overhaul of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).  Among other changes, CMS proposes to:

  • replace the current three-track program with two options (Basic and Enhanced),
  • establish a ‘glide path’ that propels accountable care organizations (ACOs) towards acceptance of performance-based down-side risk,
  • update the benchmarking methodology to incorporate regional trends from the start of an ACO’s participation in the MSSP,
  • expand the use of telehealth services by ACOs, and
  • permit ACOs to provide monetary rewards to beneficiaries for the receipt of certain primary care services.

Continue Reading CMS Identifies “Pathway to Success” for Accountable Care in Proposed Rule that Would Significantly Change Shared Savings Program

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced the withdrawal of three proposed rules that, in one case, had been pending since 2014. The first proposed rule that CMS decided to scrap was proposed in December of 2014 that would have ensured same-sex spouses were recognized and afforded equal rights as opposite-sex couples…

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published a proposed rule (Proposed Rule) to scale back its mandatory bundled payment programs. Under the Proposed Rule, CMS would cancel the episode payment models (EPMs) and cardiac rehabilitation incentive payment model (CR), and it would also reduce the mandatory participation in the comprehensive care for joint replacement model (CJR). CMS stated that it believed the proposed changes are necessary because the continued mandatory participation in bundled payment models may impede CMS’s ability to engage providers in future, voluntary initiatives. CMS also stated that it anticipates testing future initiatives through applications and agreements with providers as opposed to additional rulemaking efforts.
Continue Reading CMS Proposes to Cancel EPM and CR Bundled Payment Programs and to Reduce Mandatory Participation in CJR Model