Administration Updates
CMS: Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities; Updates to the Quality Reporting Program and Value-Based Purchasing Program for Federal Fiscal Year 2025 (03/28) - This rule proposes changes and updates to the policies and payment rates used under the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for FY 2025. CMS proposes to collect and analyze information about a resident’s food security at home through new standardized patient assessment data elements under the SDOH category. The goal of this change is to provide additional insight to patient health complexity and help facilitate coordination with other healthcare providers, facilities, and agencies during transitions of care, so that referrals to address a resident’s food security are not lost during vulnerable transition periods.
HHS: HHS Takes Additional Actions to Help People Stay Covered During Medicaid and CHIP Renewals (03/28) - CMS announced additional actions to help people maintain coverage as states continue Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility renewals, which restarted across the country last spring following a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic. CMS is extending a temporary special enrollment period to help people who are no longer eligible for Medicaid or CHIP transition to Marketplace coverage in states using HealthCare.gov. The end date of this “Unwinding SEP” will be extended from July 31, 2024, to November 30, 2024.
OMB: Notice of Decision on Race and Ethnicity Data Collection (03/28) - The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a notice of its decision on Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15). The revised SPD 15 replaces and supersedes OMB’s 1997 Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity and will require several changes, including collecting data using a single combined race and ethnicity question, allowing multiple responses and require the collection of more detail beyond the minimum race and ethnicity reporting categories.
ONC: New Federal Health IT Strategy Focuses on Health Equity (03/27) - The HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released its draft 2024–2030 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan for public comment. The Strategic Plan guides federal government efforts toward electronic health information (EHI) access, exchange, and use that improves: individual access to EHI; health care delivery, experience, competition, and affordability; health equity; public health; health research; and whole-person care delivery by connecting human services data.
CMS: 1115 Waiver Demonstration - Maryland Health Choice - Amendment 2024 (03/22) - The Maryland Secretary of Health submitted an amendment to the state’s HealthChoice 1115 waiver to implement a reentry demonstration aimed at improving care transitions for certain individuals with substance use disorder and/or serious mental illness, and those who are soon-to-be released from incarceration and otherwise eligible for Maryland Medicaid.
CMS: CMS Approves Rhode Island Demonstration Amendment to Cover Personal Care Services in Hospital Settings for Certain Individuals (03/21) - CMS approved an amendment to Rhode Island's Section 1115 waiver allowing several updates, including 12-month continuous eligibility for pregnant women and provisions to modify provider education requirements for home stabilization services to increase access to home tenancy and home find services. Providers of home stabilization with at least one year of professional or lived experience in housing insecurity will only be required to have a high school diploma or GED.
HHS: Biden-Harris Administration Launches Clean Energy Connector to Bring Nearly $15 Million in Annual Energy Savings To Up To 40,000 Low-Income Households (03/19) -The Biden-Harris Administration, in collaboration with the DOE and HHS, launched the Clean Energy Connector pilot, which utilizes a first-of-its-kind software to connect low-income households to community solar subscriptions in Illinois, Washington, D.C., and New Mexico. The goal is to reduce energy bills, increase access to clean energy, and promote equitable solar energy deployment.
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