NINA MOINI: After the passage of President Donald Trump’s massive tax cut bill, Minnesota health care providers are assessing the impact that cuts to Medicaid could have on their facilities and patient care. An analysis by health policy research nonprofit KFF found Minnesota stands to lose $23.5 billion in federal Medicaid funding over 10 years. […]
Medicaid cuts expected to disproportionately affect rural hospitals in Minnesota
NINA MOINI: After the passage of President Donald Trump’s massive tax cut bill, Minnesota health care providers are assessing the impact that cuts to Medicaid could have on their facilities and patient care. An analysis by health policy research nonprofit KFF found Minnesota stands to lose $23.5 billion in federal Medicaid funding over 10 years. […]
MedPAC Members Pan Rural Hospitals’ ‘Cost-Plus’ Billing System for Medicare Patients
Rural hospitals’ ability to bill fee-for-service Medicare patients and the uninsured on a “cost-plus” basis — essentially setting their charges at whatever level they think is appropriate — is untenable and must be changed, several members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) said Thursday. “Charges are made up, inflated in ways that are unbelievable,” […]
Opinion | ‘Like Playing a Game of Whac-A-Mole’: What We Heard This Week
“It’s like playing a game of Whac-A-Mole.” — Bill Reed, the chief event strategy officer for the American Society of Hematology, on taking down scam websites for medical organizations’ annual meetings. “Just one flush can hold a lot of information.” — Kristine Du, BSc, a lab technician at the University of Calgary, on wastewater-based virus […]
Opinion | Abortion Is Not Murder in the Eyes of the Law
Recently, the Utah House of Representatives passed a bill that would have allowed pregnant women to use the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane. The Utah Senate rejected this bill. HOV lanes are intended to reduce traffic congestion and help the environment. They have no further ambition. Bills like this are really attempts to imbue a fetus […]
House Bill Would Fix Glitch in Medicare Non-Emergency Ambulance Transport Program
WASHINGTON — Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) will introduce a bill in the House on Thursday that is aimed at fixing problems with Medicare’s program for non-emergency ambulance transport for certain low-income beneficiaries, MedPage Today has learned. The Repetitive, Scheduled Non-Emergent Ambulance Transport (RSNAT) prior authorization model started in 2014 as a project of the Centers […]
Republicans in Congress Introduce Bill to Restrict Abortion Nationwide
WASHINGTON — Republican members of the House and Senate introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks’ gestation. “Working closely with the preeminent pro-life groups in the country, we are today introducing legislation to ban abortion at a time when unborn children can feel pain,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the […]
Newsom Veto Deals Blow to Safe Injection Sites
Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed a bill that would have permitted the state to launch a pilot program to open supervised injection facilities in California’s largest cities. Sometimes called SIFs, safe consumption sites, or overdose prevention centers, these are spaces where people can legally consume or inject pre-obtained illicit drugs under supervision […]
House Passes Bill Allowing Medicare Drug Price Negotiation
WASHINGTON — By a party-line vote of 220-207, the House passed the Inflation Reduction Act — a bill that among other provisions allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices — and sent it to President Biden for his signature. “The Inflation Reduction Act is also one of the most significant pieces of health care legislation to […]
‘Lives Will Be Saved’: Biden Signs Bipartisan Gun Safety Bill Into Law
President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a bipartisan bill of gun safety measures, which Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called the “most significant piece of anti-gun-violence legislation Congress has passed in three decades.” The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act contains modest curbs on buying guns as well as funds to boost mental health care and […]