Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) news and information

The controversy surrounding hospital pricing resurfaced last week after the CMS released hospital charges and payments for the top 100 diagnosis-related groups.
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(Updated) The CMS released data showing U.S. hospitals charge widely varying amounts for the same services and also illustrating the significant variation in how much Medicare pays for those services.
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(Updated) A roadblock to the Senate confirmation of acting CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner was removed Tuesday when the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee lifted the hold he placed on the former HCA executive's nomination in April.
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Large safety net hospitals and academic medical centers fear they will be cut out of the picture by the narrow networks on steroids that many insurers will offer in the new insurance marketplaces that open for business Oct. 1.
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Connecticut hospitals would win big under the CMS' latest update of its controversial rural-floor policy.
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Dr. Steven Stack, American Medical Association board chairman, gave a spirited defense of physicians and a sharp, but balanced critique of electronic health-record systems at a federal “listening” session Friday on EHRs and their potential for use in billing fraud.
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Two years ago, over objections from the hospital industry, the U.S. announced it would add data about “potentially life-threatening” mistakes made in hospitals to a website people can search to check on safety performance. Now the CMS is planning to strip the site of the eight...
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Medicare's inpatient rehabilitation facility payment rates could increase by up to 2% in fiscal 2014, under a rule proposed by the CMS.
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The CMS has proposed a 1.4% hike in Medicare payments to skilled-nursing facilities for fiscal 2014, which the agency estimates would increase payments to these providers by about $500 million.
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While consumers are likely to benefit from the CMS shortening the federal health insurance exchange application form, the decision could pose problems for states that are already far along in developing their exchange IT systems, according to the executive director of one state-run...
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