Tag: Proposed Rule

WASHINGTON - CMS is proposing changes to expand telehealth permanently, following President Trump's signing of the “Executive Order on Improving Rural and Telehealth Access” on Aug. 3. In a 2021 Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule, CMS takes steps to extend the availability of certain telemedicine services after the public health emergency ends, giving Medicare beneficiaries more convenient ways to access health care, particularly in rural areas where access to providers may limited,...

WASHINGTON - CMS is proposing to allow home health agencies to continue to report the costs of telehealth as allowable administrative costs on line 5 of the home health agency cost report, according to a proposed rule. The agency proposes modifying the instructions regarding line 5 to reflect broader use of telecommunications technology. Additionally, CMS proposes to include not only remote patient monitoring but also other communications or monitoring services, consistent with the plan of care for...

WASHINGTON - CMS is proposing a rule to establish methodologies to modernize pricing of new DMEPOS items and services, the agency announced July 29. “The proposed rule would provide greater transparency for innovators regarding how CMS determines if new items and services are comparable to older items and services for Medicare pricing,” CMS states. “The proposed rule also promotes competition and innovation in DMEPOS by setting Medicare payment for new items based on commercial...

WASHINGTON - Industry stakeholders met with CMS officials on Sept. 17 to discuss their concerns with home infusion provisions included in a recent proposed rule.Board members of the National Home Infusion Association and others met with Demitrios Kouzoukas, principal deputy administrator of CMS and director of the Center for Medicare, to highlight the potential negative impact of the provisions on providers and patients, according to a bulletin from NHIA.In particular, they urged CMS to strike a...

WASHINGTON - CMS released a proposed rule yesterday aimed at removing unnecessary, obsolete or excessively burdensome Medicare compliance requirements.Collectively, the provisions in the rule would save healthcare providers an estimated $1.12 billion annually, the agency says.“We are committed to putting patients over paperwork, while at the same time increasing the quality of care and ensuring patient safety and bolstering program integrity,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “With...

WASHINGTON - A coalition of 20 patient and physician groups is asking CMS to remove liquid oxygen from its competitive bidding program.“For too long, patients who require a high-liter flow of oxygen have not been able to leave their homes, jeopardizing their physical and mental health and quality of life,” stated seven organizations leading the coalition. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to live a full and healthy life and, together, we ask CMS to use its existing authority to...

WASHINGTON - AAHomecare argues that CMS should pay HME providers in competitive bidding areas a higher rate during an upcoming “gap period” in the program, according to comments submitted by the association this week in response to a recent proposed rule.AAHomecare recommends that CMS establish rates in the former CBAs at the current SPA rates but provide an increase to those rates by all the CPI-U increases from 2013 through 2018.“AAHomecare has serious concerns about the agency's...

WASHINGTON - CMS Administrator Seema Verma says she wants to “modernize” the agency's long-standing competitive bidding program for DMEPOS by instituting market-oriented reforms.It's a major change in attitude for the agency, which has lauded competitive bidding and the savings it has created since the program was first implemented in 2011.“The current structure doesn't produce the best prices for patients and doesn't drive optimal performance by contractors, and it's simply not...

WASHINGTON - Temporary transitional payments for home infusion therapy are moving forward, according to an upcoming proposed rule.The rule, which will be published in the July 12 Federal Register, contains information on the implementation of the payments, which will fix a payment gap created by the 21st Century Cures Act. The Cures Act requires Medicare to pay for services associated with providing Part B home infusion drugs, but not until 2021.The temporary payment, which was passed as part of...

WASHINGTON - Industry stakeholders say a large number of providers answered the call to submit comments by Sept. 2 on a proposed rule to, among other things, expand the competitive bidding program nationwide.More than 4,000 comments were submitted on the overall rule, and stakeholders believe a good number of them pertained to the bid expansion and another HME provision to create bundled monthly payments.“The feedback we've gotten from providers spoke to rural healthcare access,” said...