Category: Regulatory

November 18, 2022

The rule requires hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities to ensure staff are fully vaccinated or risk losing Medicare and Medicaid funding. In January the Supreme Court upheld the mandate in a 5-4 decision, ruling the […]

November 17, 2022

Despite criticisms over inaction, the HHS is aware of the flurry of fraud in the Medicare Advantage program that’s costing the government billions of dollars a year, and is thinking about how to curb it, department officials said at HLTH […]

November 15, 2022

Congress appropriated billions of dollars in additional funding over two years to avoid cuts to Medicare payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Provider groups last year successfully lobbied lawmakers to delay a 4.5% Medicare payment reduction until 2023. The 4.5% across-the-board […]

November 14, 2022

The federal government has eased its annual punishments for hospitals with higher-than-expected readmission rates in an acknowledgment of the upheaval the covid-19 pandemic has caused, resulting in the lightest penalties since 2014. The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program has been a […]

November 8, 2022

Ballot measures in five states will ask voters to weigh in Tuesday on whether to protect or restrict abortion access, following the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year to overturn Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. […]

November 1, 2022

The federal government has eased its annual punishments for hospitals with higher-than-expected readmission rates in an acknowledgment of the upheaval the covid-19 pandemic has caused, resulting in the lightest penalties since 2014. The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program has been a […]

October 25, 2022

As California voters decide whether to amend their state constitution to explicitly protect abortion rights, lawmakers still do not agree on whether the amendment would enshrine those rights, which by state law allow abortion up to 24 weeks, or expand […]

October 20, 2022

Montana voters will decide Nov. 8 whether to approve a ballot initiative declaring that an embryo or fetus is a legal person with a right to medical care if it survives an abortion or delivery. The measure would impose severe […]

October 18, 2022

Initial assessments of hospital efforts to meet the new regulation were critical, and the CMS increased fines for noncompliance. An analysis from PatientRightsAdvocate.org released last week suggested problems with hospitals posting incomplete price lists. The CMS rule, which took effect […]

October 17, 2022

The United States faces a growing mental health crisis that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost 53 million Americans in 2020 reported being affected by mental illness, according to the HHS. President Joe Biden has made tackling the […]

October 14, 2022

Colorado could become the second state after Oregon to allow the use of certain psychedelic substances that are illegal under federal law. But while Oregon voters in 2020 approved the supervised use of psychedelic mushrooms, the citizen initiative on the […]

October 14, 2022

Federal health officials have agreed to make public 90 audits of private Medicare Advantage health plans for seniors that are expected to reveal hundreds of millions of dollars in overcharges to the government. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services […]

October 12, 2022

Half of voters say the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the constitutional right to an abortion has made them more motivated to vote in next month’s midterm elections, with enthusiasm growing especially among Democrats and those living in states with abortion […]

October 5, 2022

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Multi Radiance Medical’s (MRM) FibroLux laser therapy to treat pain related to fibromyalgia. The new patent-pending therapy uses a photoceutical approach to provide a non-pharmacological, non-invasive and side-effect-free treatment for fibromyalgia […]

September 26, 2022

A New York Times investigation found that Providence, one of the nation’s largest health systems, pressured patients into paying their medical bills — even those who were eligible for financial assistance. Instead, the system devised a business strategy to get […]

September 23, 2022

The NSA, which went into effect in January, aims to protect patients from unexpected and costly medical bills when they unknowingly receive care from an out-of-network provider. Instead of seeking payment from the patient, providers and payers can go through […]

September 22, 2022

The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday released a bipartisan-supported discussion draft bill that aims to increase mental health access and improve mental health workforce shortages. The draft bill proposes to fill the gap in mental healthcare worker shortages by funding […]

September 20, 2022

A federal judge denied the Department of Justice’s attempt to block UnitedHealth Group’s $13 billion purchase of Change Healthcare, delivering a win on Monday to the healthcare giant as its reach continues to expand. Judge Carl Nichols’ ruling follows an […]

September 19, 2022

Dr. Nelson Onaro conceded last summer that he’d written illegal prescriptions, although he said he was thinking only of his patients. From a tiny, brick clinic in Oklahoma, he doled out hundreds of opioid pills and dozens of fentanyl patches […]

September 16, 2022

New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell wants federal health regulators to investigate the nation’s largest for-profit hospital operator. The Democrat sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra this week urging him to launch an inquiry into HCA Healthcare’s emergency department […]