Since the passage of the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (IMPACT Act), hospice operators in Texas and nationwide have seen their federal funding erode. One problem in particular that lobbyists for the hospice industry hope to correct is...
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The disaster of Texas Medicaid disenrollments
The state of Texas is unenrolling Medicaid recipients faster than any other in the United States, and some of these recipients include eligible children and adults living with serious medical conditions that require life-saving treatment and medications. Patients and...
CMS acts to prevent Medicaid disenrollment
Almost 20 million people in Texas and around the country enrolled in Medicaid during the public health emergency that began in January 2020 and lasted until May 2023. These people were able to enroll in the government health care program because Congress put a...
CMS announces stricter hospice inspection guidelines
A report published in late 2022 revealed how lax oversight and the opportunity to earn significant profits had transformed the end-of-life industry in the United States from a movement based on altruism into a $22 billion business. The investigators discovered that...
Medicare Advantage might be in for some changes
CMS has proposed several changes to the regulations that govern Medicare Advantage. Some of the changes affect Medicare Advantage or MA plans in particular, so you'll want to be aware of how CMS's proposed changes might come into play for you in Texas. What does CMS...
Improved hospice law under the CARES Act
The CARES Act outlined telehealth provisions that are allowed during a public health crisis. When a national emergency happens, several, major federal laws are passed to provide assistance to struggling businesses. In 2020, new hospice laws were passed to help hospice...
EHR Incentives and Certifications – Attaining Meaningful Use
In 2009, legislation authorized the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) to offer health care providers financial incentives to use certified electronic health recording technology (CEHRT) to keep electronic health records (EHRs) on patients. Learn about...
Rewards Exception to Beneficiary Inducement CMPL
The Office of the Inspector General of the US Department of Health and Human Services recently passed a regulation providing an exception to certain prohibitions under the Civil Monetary Penalties Law (CMPL). This exception allows pharmacies and other healthcare...
MACRA: Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Explained
In 2015, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act was passed, and by 2019, healthcare providers will begin to see its impacts on Medicare payments. It replaces Medicare’s current reimbursement schedule—which was based on a sustainable growth rate (SGR)...
Medicare’s Hospital Readmission Reduction Program
Established as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicare’s Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) attempts to create an incentive for hospitals to cut down the number of readmissions they have for various types of acute care. As of 2017, these types of...