- The Internal Revenue Service has issued final guidance to not-for-profit hospitals on billing and collections, codifying consumer protections that providers must follow in order to keep their tax-exempt status. The guidance comes in reaction to provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Four consumer protection requirements outlined under the ACA are: hospitals may not charge patients who are eligible for financial assistance more than patients who have insurance; hospitals must establish and publicize a financial assistance policy that clearly states the eligibility criteria; hospitals are prohibited from engaging in “extraordinary collection practices” until they have made an effort to determine whether a patient is eligible for financial assistance; and hospitals must conduct a community needs assessment at least once every three years.
- Melanie Bella, director of the Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office at the CMS, has announced she plans to leave the agency. Her statement comes within two weeks of an announcement from Cindy Mann, CMS' deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Services, stating she was departing the agency. Bella oversees care coordination for Americans covered by both Medicare and Medicaid. Bella was brought on to spearhead initiatives that would better coordinate care for those dual-eligible beneficiaries and reduce the cost of their care.
- The CMS Innovation Center paid $2.6 billion through September to hospitals, doctors and others through nearly two dozen programs that tested new ways to deliver healthcare and pay for it. But results of those programs—including more than 60,000 providers and 2.5 million patients in Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program—are largely not yet available, the Innovation Center said in its second report to Congress. Through September, the center operated 22 initiatives, the report said, and oversaw another 20 programs required by Congress.
IRS issues guidance on billing and collections to hospitals, and other news stories
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