CMS released a notice of proposed rulemaking on Monday that would expand access to healthcare for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients across all states, if finalized.     The notice was a follow-up to the Biden administration’s announcement earlier this month to expand healthcare coverage to DACA recipients under the Medicaid program and … Read more

Last month, CMS issued a proposed update to the hospice wage index that would impose base pay reductions on hospice care providers who fail to meet Medicare reporting requirements intended to increase transparency. Under the proposed rule, CMS would analyze hospice care utilization, including Medicare spending, services outside of the hospice benefit, and claims data, … Read more

On April 1st, Utah will observe a reduction in its enhanced federal matching rate (FMAP) for Medicaid from 6.2% to 5%. The rate reduction is the first in a series of decreases scheduled for the year before the enhanced FMAP ends on Jan. 1st of 2024.      Utah’s Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program … Read more

A new Florida Health Care Association (FHCA) dashboard is now available for residents seeking valuable information on long-term care facilities.     The FHCA launched the Long Term Care Quality Dashboard this month to provide transparent data about the quality of care delivered in Florida’s nursing homes. “Our association is committed to providing information and … Read more

Following a recent US District Court ruling on the federal government’s arbitration process for disputed medical billing—making the protocol for issuing decisions on disputed claims unclear—CMS posted some clarifying guidance on processing payment determinations to providers on Friday.      The Texas Medical Association (TMA) filed a lawsuit against the departments of Health and Human … Read more

On February 2nd, 2023, Michigan’s House Health Policy Committee held its first meeting of the legislative session, which focused on creating a state-regulated health insurance marketplace.     Joseph Sullivan, insurance legislative liaison from the Department of Insurance and Financial Services spoke to the committee about transitioning to a state-based health insurance exchange marketplace and … Read more

A record number of Texans signed up for health plans for 2023, according to the latest figures from CMS. More than 2.4 million individuals signed up for health insurance during the Open Enrollment Period (OEP), 570,000 of whom were previously uninsured.     Marketplace enrollment in the Lone Star State has outpaced every state in the … Read more

Faculty at the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s (UH Hilo) Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy (DKICP) were recently awarded a $333,000 grant to develop a statewide infrastructure that identifies and works to correct existing medication use health disparities among Hawaii’s indigenous populations. The grant was administered through the CMS’ Minority Research Grant Program. Karen … Read more

This month’s newsletter includes a breakdown of recommendations presented to the Arizona House’s Teen Mental Health Ad Hoc Committee, the Arizona Center for Rural Health’s proposals for continuing to support the struggling rural health workforce, and insight from the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association about mitigating the decreasing financial operating margins that Arizona hospitals are … Read more

The University of Utah Health (U of U) Huntsman Cancer Institute’s Huntsman at Home (HH) program has been providing a full spectrum of care to acutely ill cancer patients in the home setting since 2018.      HH administrators say during the course of their treatment, oncological patients are more likely to develop acute symptoms … Read more