CMS Administrator Takes On Hospitals

(NOTE: CMS late yesterday released massive regulations making sweeping changes in how hospitals, physicians are paid - including new price disclosure requirements. I will be posting reports on these new proposals over the next week.) CMS Administrator Seema Verma last week took on Medicare's "hospital-centric payment model," promoting the administration's site-neutral payment policies and smacking provider consolidation. In a speech last week, Verma condemned Democratic proposals for a public insurance option and Medicare-for-All. Medicare or Medicaid buy-in proposals are rapidly gaining momentum among leading Democratic presidential candidates and lawmakers as the next step to cover uninsured Americans or offer cheaper plans. Last year the CMS finalized a watered-down version of a site-neutral payment rule, prompting a lawsuit from hospital groups and legislation to reverse the rule. It's unclear whether CMS will go further in the upcoming outpatient payment rule, which is expected to be released at the end of this week. Click here to read Verma's remarks.