Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement
FY 2003 FUNDING FINAL AT LAST
Congress tweaked some administration recommendations in the fiscal year 2003 omnibus appropriations bill. But President Bush signed the bill Feb. 20, albeit with some grumbling about the amount of spending that doesn’t reflect his priorities.
At the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Congress trimmed funding for research and demonstration programs — many of which are conducted at the legislature’s request — but didn’t trim as severely as the White House had wanted. The administration requested that funding be cut from $117 million to $28 million, but Congress funded CMS research at $74 million, higher than either the House or the Senate had initially proposed.
Congress also slightly boosted funding for CMS’s oversight of state survey and certification activities related to skilled nursing facilities, although the White House had requested a cut. Survey and certification is funded at $254 million for FY 2003, compared to the $253 million it got in FY 2002. The White House asked for $248 million.
In the conference report, Congress directs CMS to take stronger action when states fail to provide federally mandated lead screening for at-risk children and environmental investigations of the homes of lead-poisoned children under their Medicaid programs. Conferees also want a full and detailed analysis by May 30 of geographic disparities in hospital payment and the process and standards by which hospitals currently may be reclassified into higher payment areas.
Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement
- Medicare:
FY 2003 FUNDING FINAL AT LAST
Congress tweaked some administration recommendations in the fiscal year 2003 omnibus appropriations bill. But President [...] - Hospitals:
SCHEDULE SLIPS FOR OUTLIER RULE
A new rule limiting outlier payments to hospitals will come out soon, but as a [...] - Home Health:
HHS LAUNCHES HOME HEALTH QUALITY INITIATIVE
As promised, the Bush administration has taken its health care quality improvement efforts into the [...] - Home Health:
HHAs WANT CMS TO KEEP HANDS OFF ALJs
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ campaign to reform the appeals process isn’t convincing [...] - Pharmaceuticals:
EMPIRE STATE JOINS AWP CRUSADE
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer joined a half dozen other states in suing drugmakers [...] - Antitrust:
DOJ, FTC REEXAMINE HEALTH CARE ANTITRUST
A series of government hearings starting this month could set the framework for how the [...] - ASCs:
MULTI-SPECIALTY PRACTICE FOUNDERS WITH ASC PROPOSAL
While recent advisory opinions suggest that there’s at least a little bit of wiggle room [...] - Hospitals:
JOHNS HOPKINS CAPS OFF PATH PROBE
Johns Hopkins University emerged from a long-running physicians-at-teaching-hospitals audit relatively unscathed February 14, capping off [...] - Medicare:
OIG CONTINUES TO FRET OVER MULTIPLE PROCEDURE CLAIMS
As part of an extensive series of reviews on how well Medicare contractors handle Medicare [...] - Credentialing:
SHRINK STINKS, PLAN THINKS, DEAL INKED
The misdeeds of a phony psychiatrist, the forthrightness of a health maintenance organization and a [...] - Reimbursement:
GAO TARGETS NEW AWP PAYMENT HEMORRHAGE
As with most covered drugs and biologicals,Medicare pays way too much for blood clotting factor, [...] - Medicaid:
HHAs PREPARE TO DEFEND MEDICAID WAIVER PROGRAMS
For many disabled people depending on home care services through Medicaid, this could be the [...] - BILL WATCH
The following Senate bills were introduced: • S. 416. A bill to amend title XVIII [...] - PROGRAM MEMO ROUNDUP
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Feb. 14 updated payment rules for certain services [...] - REGISTER WATCH
Responsibilities are shifting at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. A Feb. 20 Federal [...]
