Supreme Court. HHS. Department of Labor. CMS. FTC. Minnesota. Oklahoma. Oregon. The list goes on. And all in one week. ACA is indeed a big deal.
On Monday (4/18), the Supreme Court released the list of cases it will consider this session. Notably missing from the list was Virginia's challenge to the Affordable Care Act, which Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli had petitioned the Court to take (bypassing the appeals process).
The Affordable Care Act mandates that the Department of Labor "conduct a survey of employer-sponsored coverage to determine the benefits typically covered by employers." In accordance with the Act, on Friday (3/15), the Department of Labor released a survey of 12 medical benefits that will help determine how generous the health care reform law will be. The report can be found here: http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/sp/selmedbensreport.pdf.
Beginning on Monday (4/18), eligible health care providers are able to begin the attestation process for the Medicare electronic health record incentive program. CMS has provided answers to questions that providers may have along with the registration page: https://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/32_Attestation.asp#TopOfPage.
On Thursday (4/15), CMS announced four initiatives to provide the states with greater flexibility and opportunities for efficiency with respect to Medicaid: 1) A new final rule, published in the Federal Register on Tuesday (4/19), will increase federal funding to states developing and improving electronic Medicaid and CHIP enrollment systems. The rule says CMS will cover 90 percent of costs related to launching or upgrading the electronic enrollment systems and 75 percent of costs related to ongoing maintenance. 2) CMS issued a proposed rule intended to make it easier for states to help people with disabilities choose to live in communities instead of institutions. 3) CMS also announced an initiative, funded by the Affordable Care Act, under which 15 states will receive up to $1 million each to create new methods for meeting the needs of their dual-eligible populations. 4) Finally, HHS Secretary Sebelius approved a proposal by New Jersey to expand health care coverage for almost 70,000 low-income people through the Work First New Jersey program.
On Thursday (4/14), President Obama signed into law repeal of the 1099 tax-reporting provision, which would have required businesses to file a 1099 tax form for any purchase over $600.
In response to President Obama's January 18th executive order that all government agencies complete an analysis of rules that are ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome, the American Medical Association sent CMS a letter, which outlines the federal regulations that are most burdensome to physicians. The list and accompanying suggested solutions were compiled from an extensive survey of over 2,000 physicians
In the states:
1) The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is pushing to pass a law to create a taxpayer-funded exchange. Though the group is not supportive of the health reform act, it would prefer to sculpt the law itself rather than have the federal government do it.
2) The Oregon Senate Health Care Committee cleared Senate Bill 99, which would allow for the establishment of a health insurance exchange, for a vote of the full Senate.
3) Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin (R) returned a $54 million Early Innovator Grant for health care reform.
4) The Missouri Senate passed legislation extending health care taxes (levied on things like hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies) that will help generate around $3 billion each year for the state's Medicaid program. The legislation will now head to the House.
5) In Washington State, the House has approved a proposal, which will create a health care exchange program in the state by 2014. The measure will now head to the Senate.
On Wednesday (4/13) President Obama presented a deficit reduction framework that aims to cut health care entitlement spending by $480 billion over 12 years. To accomplish this, the President said Congress should "build on" the reforms included in the Affordable Care Act, which he said already cut the deficit by $1 trillion. President Obama also called for strengthening the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), created by the Affordable Care Act, that would recommend cuts to reimbursement rates if Medicare costs grow too fast. CMS Administrator Donald Berwick said he did not think it will be necessary to strengthen IPAB. (For more information on the IPAB, see http://kff.org/medicare/8150.cfm). Berwick described President Obama's proposal as "a very wise default system - a Plan B."
On Tuesday (4/12), the Obama Administration announced a new $1 billion initiative to reduce medical errors. The program, funded with Affordable Care Act money, strives to cut the number of harmful preventable conditions patients acquire in hospitals by 40% over the next three years.
The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice are seeking public comment on their Accountable Care Organization antitrust policy statement, released March 31. Comments must be submitted on or before May 31, 2011 and they can be submitted here: https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/acoenforcementpolicy/. According to the FTC's website, the policy statement describes "1) the ACOs to which it will apply; 2) when the FTC and DOJ will apply particular antitrust analyses to those ACOs; 3) an antitrust safety zone for certain ACOs; 4) the CMS-mandated antitrust review process for certain other ACOs; and 5) options for ACOs to gain additional antitrust clarity if they fall outside the safety zone but below the CMS-mandated antitrust threshold.”
As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions.
To view our compilation of this week's health care reform implementation news, click here.