CMS Administrator Seema Verma on Tuesday told insurers that they need to support the Trump administration’s policies on transparency, value-based payments, interoperability and data access, cautioning them that the health insurance industry is under threat from disgruntled patients, doctors and politicians. Speaking at the America’s Health Insurance Plans’ 2019 National Conference on Medicare, Verma said…
The CMS Proposed Rule for the 2020 Physician Fee Schedule and changes to the Quality Payment Program picks up where the “Pathways to Success” ACO rule left off. This time, the “Pathways” shake-up is aimed squarely at MIPS, in the form of “MIPS Value Pathways.” We’ve described the growing frustration with MIPS, specifically MedPAC’s report to Congress on…
CMS Administrator Seema Verma gave her first update on a major overhaul to the Stark law, saying that a key part of the regulation will remove a barrier to doctors participating in value-based arrangements. A major part of the agency’s updates to the anti-kickback law is clarifying areas of noncompliance for doctors and updating the…
As part of CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) Administer Seema Verma’s HIMSS19 speech on Feb. 12, she announced a new initiative that will enable MSSP ACOs to retrieve claims data for their beneficiaries. During Verma’s speech, in which she broadly implored the private sector to follow the government’s lead on making health data more accessible,…
Dive Brief: CMS is launching a project to share Medicare claims data with accountable care organizations in bulk, Administrator Seema Verma announced Tuesday at HIMSS19 in Orlando, Florida. The project, called the Beneficiary Claims Data API (BCDA), will allow ACOs participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program to retrieve Part A, B and D claims data…
ORLANDO, Fla.—For the thousands of people attending the 2019 HIMSS conference this week, there is no escaping the buzz about the proposed new interoperability rules issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma is the ubiquitous face of the news at the event,…
CMS Administrator Seema Verma on Tuesday said the agency is exploring ways to apply its value-based payment models beyond Medicare and encourage more providers to buy in to the programs. Currently, only 14% of Medicare providers participate in value-based arrangements, Verma said at the CMS Quality Conference in Baltimore. But the agency hopes its new…
What might be in the works over at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI)? Are there new pilot models actively in development that will be rolled out this year? Many industry stakeholders, including federal lawmakers, are eager to know what the relatively opaque agency has in store. Created under the Obama administration, CMMI…
On December 21, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule that sets a new direction for the Medicare Shared Savings Program (Shared Savings Program). Referred to as “Pathways to Success,” this new direction for the Shared Savings Program redesigns the participation options available under the program to encourage Accountable…
Intense debates on every subject are constantly swirling in the healthcare policy sphere; that has always been the case. But one debate that is both impactful and being closely watched is the intensifying argument between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, particularly CMS Administrator Seema Verma, and some leader organizations in the accountable care…