Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

It looks like Medicare providers may be tightening their belts again for 2021.

Why? On Feb. 10, The Trump Administration released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 budget with hefty cuts for the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). As with past Trump budgets, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) appears to be the hardest hit by the HHS cutbacks.

According to the White House, the FY 2021 budget proposals aim to eliminate “wasteful spending while preserving beneficiaries’ access to care, enhancing competition, and prioritizing federal resources for the most vulnerable,” indicates the budget. The feds plan to decrease HHS funding by 10 percent with a $9.5 billion cut in 2021, with a combined total of $1.6 trillion over 10 years to Medicare and Medicaid.

Hot topic items in the budget include funding for opioid abuse treatment, conscience rights protections, and more telehealth options and investments. The budget also suggests that Medicare providers should expect more enforcement, payment reforms, and patient cost-saving measures in 2021.

The Democrat-controlled House is not expected to approve the budget with the reasoning that low-income families will be the most impacted by the massive cuts, suggests the House Committee rebuttal on the budget.

Review the FY 2021 budget at www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/budget_fy21.pdf.