ALLIANCE TO FIGHT FOR HEALTH CARE
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NEWS
HHS OIG: CMS and patients could have saved $1.6B by adopting site-neutral policy
According to a June report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Medicare beneficiaries could have saved a combined $1.6 billion for evaluation and management (E&M) services if the agency had adopted a site-neutral payment policy in eight states from 2010-2017.
The report notes, “Historically, hospitals that purchased physician practices could treat them as either part of the hospital and integrated into the hospital for financial purposes (“provider-based”) or as separate from it (“freestanding facilities”). Three Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) reports to Congress and a previous Office of Inspector General (OIG) report found that hospitals were increasingly purchasing physician practices and operating them as provider-based facilities because of their higher payment rates.”
TELEHEALTH
March 9, 2022 Telehealth Update
The Alliance to Fight for Health Care commends Congress for working to keep telehealth—particularly, telemental health— services affordable for workers by extending the CARES Act telehealth flexibility in their Omnibus funding package. We look forward to seeing this provision enacted to give workers and their families the peace of mind that they can seek the telemental health care they need. As data about the importance of this flexibility mounts, we urge Congress to make this policy permanent.
The Alliance to Fight for Health Care supports the Telehealth Expansion Act of 2021 (S. 1704/H.R. 5981), legislation to ensure that people can continue to access affordable telehealth services if they have a health savings account. According to a Morning Consult National Tracking Poll sponsored by the Alliance, seven in ten insured adults (71%) feel it is important that they are able to access telehealth services under their current health care plan and 89% rated their or their family member’s previous telehealth visit(s) as good or excellent. With this important flexibility set to expire December 31st 2021, Congress must act now to keep telehealth affordable.
THE ALLIANCE TO FIGHT
FOR HEALTH CARE
Fighting for Your Health Care
The Alliance to Fight for Health Care is a broad-based coalition comprised of businesses, patient advocates, employer organizations, unions, health care companies, consumer groups and other stakeholders that support employer-provided health coverage. Together, we are working to ensure that employer-provided coverage remains an available and affordable option for working Americans and their families. The coalition, previously working as the Alliance to Fight the 40, led the successful effort to repeal the so-called 40% “Cadillac Tax” on health care coverage.
“The Alliance’s goal is to advance public policy that makes health care more affordable, strengthens job-based coverage and supports continued innovation that delivers value to working families.”