Administrative Updates
CMS: (1/12) - CMS is extending the 2020 MIPS Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Exception Application deadline for COVID-19 until February 1, 2020 to further support clinicians during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
HHS: (1/11) - HHS announced an award of $8 million through HRSA to fund the Telehealth Broadband Pilot program, which assesses the broadband capacity available to rural health care providers and patient communities to improve their access to telehealth services.
CMS: (1/8) - CMMI Director Brad Smith published a year-in-review blog on key accomplishments and lessons learned in 2020. Key highlights included that CMMI announced, finalized, or certified for expansion eight models that will save the Medicare Trust Fund over $5 billion. CMMI also made a number of operational improvements to help prepare the Center to lead the movement towards value-based care in the years ahead.
HHS: (1/8) - HHS issued the final Securing Updated and Necessary Statutory Evaluations Timely (SUNSET) rule, which requires the Department to assess its regulations every ten years to determine whether they are subject to review under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) and whether the regulation is still needed and is having appropriate impacts.
CMS: (1/8) - CMS approved the expansion of the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) model. THe HHVBP expansion would be implemented through rulemaking no earlier than January 1, 2022.
HHS: (1/7) - HHS announced the extension of the Community Based Testing Site program for COVID-19 testing, through partnership with national pharmacy and retail chains CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, Quest (through services at Walmart) and service provider eTrueNorth (through services at Health Mart and Topco locations). The partnership has resulted in establishing more than 3,300 COVID-19 testing locations.
CMS: (1/6) - CMS released additional frequently asked questions (FAQs) for states related to COVID-19. The FAQs address questions related to 1135 waivers, Medicare blanket waivers, eligibility and enrollment, premiums and cost-sharing, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the optional COVID-19 testing group and others.
HHS: (1/6) - HHS announced two upcoming actions by the CDC to provide more than $22 billion in funding to states, localities, and territories in support of the nation's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than $19 billion will be allocated to support testing, contract tracing, surveillance, containment, and mitigation to monitor and suppress the spread of COVID-19. Over $3 billion will support a range of COVID-19 vaccination activities across jurisdictions.
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