- Public Inspection: HHS: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Marketplace Integrity and Affordability
- Increased Risk of Cyber Threats Against Healthcare and Public Health Sector
- Eight Hospitals Selected for First Cohort of Rural Hospital Stabilization Program
- Announcing the 2030 Census Disclosure Avoidance Research Program
- CMS: Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2026 Rates; Requirements for Quality Programs; and Other Policy Changes; Correction
- CMS: Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2026 Rates; Requirements for Quality Programs; and Other Policy Changes; Correction
- CMS: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Contract Year 2026 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, Medicare Cost Plan Program, and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly; Correction
- CMS: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Contract Year 2026 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, Medicare Cost Plan Program, and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly; Correction
- CMS: Medicare Program; FY 2026 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements
- CMS: Medicare Program; Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities; Updates to the Quality Reporting Program for Federal Fiscal Year 2026
- Public Inspection: CMS: Medicare Program: Fiscal Year 2026 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements
- Public Inspection: CMS: Medicare Program: Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities; Updates to the Quality Reporting Program for Federal Fiscal Year 2026
- CMS: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; CY 2025 Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment and Coverage Policies; Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements; Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program; and Medicare Overpayments; and Appeal Rights for Certain Changes in Patient Status; Corrections and Correcting Amendment
- CMS: Request for Information; Health Technology Ecosystem
- CMS: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; CY 2025 Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment and Coverage Policies; Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements; Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program; and Medicare Overpayments; and Appeal Rights for Certain Changes in Patient Status; Corrections and Correcting Amendment
Top Five CareQuest Institute Publications from 2021
Based on the collective engagement from the audience of providers, policymakers, advocates, and oral health stakeholders across the industry, below are the top five most popular CareQuest Institute publications.
A Step Toward Improving Oral Health for Our Veterans
A new white paper from CareQuest Institute and the American Institute of Dental Public Health (AIDPH) – Veteran Oral Health: Expanding Access and Equity – focuses on the need to better understand the significant deficits surrounding veteran oral health. The goal of the paper, which includes several strategic recommendations to improve access and quality of care, is to catalyze oral health professionals and policymakers toward advancing health equity for veterans.
Pennsylvania Announces Regulatory Updates
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) announced that pursuant to Act 73 of 2021, the suspensions of various regulatory provisions under the state disaster emergency declaration were extended until March 31, 2022, unless reinstated sooner by DHS. Effective December 6, 2021, DHS has reinstated several suspended regulations, in whole or in part. A list of suspended regulations and their status is available here: https://www.dhs.pa.gov/coronavirus/Pages/Suspended-Regulations-Reinstatement.aspx
Good Faith Estimates and the Surprise Billing Act
On October 7, 2021, the Departments of Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published in the Federal Register proposed Requirements Related to Surprise Billing, Part II https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/10/07/2021-21441/requirements-related-to-surprise-billing-part-ii
National Association of Community Health Centers is hosting a webinar on Friday, December 17, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. to go over the main areas of the “No Surprise Billing Act” and the Good Faith Estimate provision challenges. Register here https://nachc.webex.com/mw3300/mywebex/default.do?nomenu=true&siteurl=nachc&service=6&rnd=0.6403768472681355&main_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnachc.webex.com%2Fec3300%2Feventcenter%2Fevent%2FeventAction.do%3FtheAction%3Ddetail%26%26%26EMK%3D4832534b00000005b5e9c1b132c95d26e441b77ffaf1560d19607e9499c4d806b764ce7d35723dfb%26siteurl%3Dnachc%26confViewID%3D212595861152118779%26encryptTicket%3DSDJTSwAAAAWXK2m5w4k_Tp9dXNMIGc0uS46qzEMm-q3nLhjkp-wfNw2%26
Strategies to Prepare for Public Health Emergency Unwinding
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a “punch list” of strategies states and the U.S. territories can adopt to maintain coverage of eligible individuals as they return to normal operations after the end of the public health emergency. The strategies are organized around seven topics areas:
- strengthening renewal processes
- updating mailing addresses
- improving consumer outreach, communication, and assistance
- promoting seamless coverage transitions
- improving coverage retention
- addressing strains on the eligibility and enrollment workforce
- enhancing oversight of eligibility and enrollment operations
In the resource, CMS also flagged strategies expected to have the biggest impact on mitigating coverage losses. https://www.medicaid.gov/state-resource-center/downloads/strategies-for-covrg-of-indiv.pdf
New Bulletin with Oral Health Resources Published
The National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC) recently published the “Oral Health Resource Bulletin: Volume 47.” The bulletin contains briefs, guidelines, manuals, standards, reports, and videos published in 2020 and 2021. Topics include the COVID-19 pandemic, data and surveillance, policy, professional and education practice, program development, public awareness and education, and systems integration. Resources include a toolkit on community water fluoridation, a user’s guide on teledentistry, and more.
Data Estimates from National Survey of Children’s Health Released
The Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DRC), a project of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI), under a cooperative agreement with the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), announced the release of the combined “2019-2020 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) Child and Family Health Measures.” The combined 2019-2020 NSCH is the fourth multi-year dataset since the redesign of the NSCH in 2016 and includes data from 72,210 children ages 0-17 years. The combined 2019-2020 NSCH downloadable data sets and codebooks with constructed variables displayed in the DRC Interactive Data Query will be available in early 2022.
COVID-19 Reporting Revised to Better Track Trends
The Pennsylvania Department of Health will now provide weekly summaries of COVID-19 cases, deaths, hospitalizations and vaccine data, in addition to their daily updates of the interactive dashboards on the website to provide a clearer picture of what is happening than daily snapshots alone provide. The data reveals:
- Between November 29 and December 5, almost 422,000 vaccine doses were administered across the commonwealth; nearly half were boosters and about 76,000 were to children ages 5-11.
- According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health weekly report, this is a 47.2% increase in vaccines administered from the previous week.
- As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 4,298 people hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state.
- In the past seven days, the number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 increased by 9%, the state averaged 7,338 new cases per day and a total of 654 deaths were reported.
- To date, there have been almost 1.8 million cases of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania and 34,107 virus-related deaths.
Note: the state’s vaccine data includes information from all counties except Philadelphia, which operates as a separate vaccine jurisdiction.
Acting Pennsylvania Health Secretary to Resign December 31, 2021
Alison Beam will resign as acting Pennsylvania health secretary at the end of the year. https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/alison-beam-resign-pa-health-secretary-keara-klinepeter-20211213.html
Pennsylvania to Fund Sexual Violence Prevention at Colleges and Universities
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced that 34 institutions of higher education will receive up to $30,000 in funding to protect students from sexual violence. You can learn more about It’s On Us PA and add you name to the statewide pledge here. You can also read more about school-specific initiatives.