Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Hospitals, Insurers Unhappy With Medicare's Proposed Change To Severity Payments
Hospitals and insurers are fuming over the Trump administration's latest idea to lower healthcare costs by changing how CMS calculates Medicare severity DRG payments. Under the proposed Inpatient Prospective Payment System rule, CMS would force hospitals to report for each MS-DRG the median payer-specific negotiated rates for all Medicare Advantage organizations and third-party payers beginning in 2021. Regulators say hospitals should be able to calculate the charges since they will have to pull together and publish most of the data under the disputed price transparency rule, which is making its way through the courts. (Brady, 7/13)
And in Medicaid news —
President Donald Trump has moved forcefully to push unprecedented limits on government health assistance for the poor, trying to follow through on conservatives’ long-held goals for reshaping the health care safety net. (Roubein, 7/13)
