Payment integrity in Medicaid—the concerted effort to keep tight control over fraud, waste and abuse—can be addressed at any stage in the claim cycle. Of course, the earlier it is addressed, the easier it is for health plans to avoid improper payments and the administrative burden of recovering them. And while pre-payment integrity programs maximize […]
On April 29, 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”), issued the final rule on Contract Year 2023 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs (the “Final Rule”). CMS promotes the Final Rule as advancing “CMS’ strategic vision of expanding access to affordable health care […]
A focus on front-end revenue cycle efficiency can help to avoid costly medical necessity denials. KEY TAKEAWAYS Four words often describe the efforts to prevent denials related to medical necessity: too little, too late. Mistakes are made early in the patient’s hospital stay, and these mistakes lead to problems down the road. What remains constant […]
The HIPAA Security Rule requires covered entities and business associates to implement technical, physical, and administrative safeguards. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) required the HHS secretary to develop rules for safeguarding electronic protected health information (ePHI). Out of these requirements, HHS created the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the HIPAA Security […]
The health care industry is rapidly evolving. COVID-19 has uncovered a litany of flaws in health care systems, leading to massive changes in the way patients, providers, and payers communicate and operate. One of the highest impact changes in the industry is the widespread shift from a traditional fee-for-service reimbursement system to value-based care. Instead […]
CMS released the fiscal year (FY) 2023 inpatient prospective payment system proposed rule with proposals for new calculations for FY 2023 rate setting. Although CMS is proposing to use FY 2021 data for FY 2023 Medicare Severity Diagnosis-Related Groups (MS-DRG) rate setting, the agency wants a modified methodology to account for the historical and potential […]
CMS issued its annual Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule for FY 2023 (the Proposed Rule). In the Proposed Rule, CMS proposes to update the IPPS and LTCH payment rates, modify the payment rules for direct graduate medical education (DGME) to comply with a recent […]
CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the 2023 Notice of Benefits and Payment Parameters Final Rule, which includes standardized plan options, changes to network adequacy reviews, refinements to the Affordable Care Act’s essential health benefits nondiscrimination policy, and other changes. “The recent Open Enrollment Period demonstrated the demand for […]
Revenue cycle leaders noted that the confusing regulations included in the CMS price transparency rule make it difficult for their organizations to achieve compliance. The majority of revenue cycle leaders were dissatisfied with aspects of the CMS hospital price transparency rule and expressed doubt about the regulation’s efficacy, according to a KLAS report RevCycleIntelligence received […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us it’s possible for the health care system to transform care delivery—and quickly. We saw vaccines come to market in record time, heightened cross-industry collaboration to track vaccine statuses, and virtual care use surge. Similarly, the pandemic demonstrated that value-based care delivery models, where payment is based on outcomes versus […]