CMS retains 340B, site-neutral payment cuts in final hospital payment rule

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals-health-systems/cms-retains-340b-site-neutral-payment-cuts-final-hospital-payment-rule?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&mrkid=959610&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWTJZd1pqWXpZbVUwWTJKbSIsInQiOiJLV2JJQWM1clQ3OVBiaURjdFVUUUg2K093U21XZm0zVHNPa1hTUjdTWEdxSWZpYklsako0TVMrZFYxazVGZHFkOHJ3M1pWNlwvYW5pVWpPcjM1TEtVRnErOWgxU3NKc1dcLzk3TnZTc1pLZVI0Ymcrb0V1ZEZ2eDh1djFwa1FlaW50In0%3D

billing statement from a doctor's office

The Trump administration finalized a hospital payment rule Friday that retains proposed cuts to off-campus clinics and the 340B drug discount program. 

The changes outlined in the hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) rule come despite both cuts being struck down in legal challenges and amid major pushback from providers.

Site-neutral payments

The agency decided to move ahead with the two-year phase-in of the cuts to outpatient services for clinic visits furnished in an off-campus hospital outpatient setting. The goal is to bring payments to off-campus clinics in line with standalone physicians’ offices.

“With the completion of the two-year phase-in, the cost sharing will be reduced to $9, saving beneficiaries an average of $14 each time they visit an off-campus department for a clinic visit in [calendar year] 2020,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said in a fact sheet.

However, the two-year project that was supposed to start in 2019 has been halted because of a federal court ruling.

CMS decided to move forward with the cuts for off-campus clinics.

“The government has appeal rights, and is still evaluating the rulings and considering, at the time of this writing, whether to appeal the final judgment,” the agency said.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) said that the site-neutral payment rule was misguided and that CMS ignored the recent court ruling. 

“There are many real and crucial differences between hospital outpatient departments and the patient populations they serve and other sites of care,” said Tom Nickels, executive vice president of the AHA, in a statement.

CMS also finalized a proposed cut for the 340B program that cuts payments by 22.5% in 2020.

CMS has installed prior cuts in 2018 and 2019 to the program that requires drug companies to provide discounts to safety-net hospitals in exchange for getting their products covered on Medicaid.

However, a court ruling has struck down the cuts, and CMS is currently appealing the decision.

CMS said that it hopes to conduct a 340B hospital survey to collect drug acquisition cost data for 2018 and 2019, and the survey will craft a remedy if the appeal doesn’t go their way.

“In the event the 340B hospital survey data are not used to devise a remedy, we intend to consider the public input to inform the steps we would take to propose a remedy for CYs 2018 and 2019 in the CY 2021 rulemaking,” the agency said.

Hospital groups commented that CMS should drop both the 340B and site-neutral cuts because of the legal challenges.

Several groups weren’t happy that the cuts were still there.

“The agency also prolongs confusion and uncertainty for hospitals by maintaining unlawful policies it has been told to abandon in clear judicial directives,” said Beth Feldpush, senior vice president of policy and advocacy for America’s Essential Hospitals, in a statement Friday.

The hospital-backed group 340B Health added that CMS needs to stop this “unfunny version of ‘Groundhog Day’ and restore Medicare payments for 340B hospitals to their legal, statutory level.”

 

 

 

CHS debt swap plan is unsustainable, Moody’s says

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/chs-debt-swap-plan-is-unsustainable-moody-s-says.html?origin=cfoe&utm_source=cfoe

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Although Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health System’s proposed debt exchange plan will alleviate short-term liquidity concerns, it will also add to an already unsustainable capital structure, Moody’s Investors Service said Nov. 4

On Oct. 29, CHS said it plans to offer $700 million in new senior secured notes due in 2027 and up to $1.9 billion in senior unsecured notes due in 2028 in exchange for its $2.6 billion worth of outstanding senior unsecured notes due in 2022.

The plan would increase how much CHS pays in interest.

Moody’s didn’t alter the health system’s current “Caa3” rating in its public comment about the debt swap plan, but said if the plan moves forward it would likely result in downward pressure on some of its ratings.

“If the transaction is completed in its proposed form, the addition of incremental first lien debt will likely result in downward pressure on the existing senior secured first lien ratings of ‘Caa1,'” Moody’s said.

 

 

Kaiser can’t stop Hawaii health system from balance billing

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/kaiser-can-t-stop-hawaii-health-system-from-balance-billing.html

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A federal court has dismissed a lawsuit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan filed against Honolulu-based Queen’s Health Systems after a contract between the parties expired May 30, according to The Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Queen’s Health Systems, which includes four hospitals, provides emergency services to hundreds of Kaiser members each year. After the contract expired, and the parties were unable to reach a new agreement, Kaiser said it would pay the “reasonable value of Queen’s emergency services,” but “not necessarily 100% of billed charges,” according to the report.

In response, QHS said Kaiser members would be billed for the balance of charges not paid by Kaiser. Kaiser subsequently sued to prevent the billing practice and QHS asked the court to dismiss the suit.

In dismissing the lawsuit with prejudice Oct. 31, Judge Derrick Watson, a U.S. District judge in Hawaii, said there are “no real winners,” according to the report.

“Should QMC [Queen’s Medical Center] choose to balance bill Kaiser’s members for emergency services, QMC is unlikely to receive glowing attention from interested observers. In terms of dollars and cents, eventually someone or some entity will need to pay (or be ordered to pay) for the services QMC has rendered to Kaiser’s members.”

Kaiser told The Honolulu Star-Advertiser it intends to appeal the court’s ruling.

 

Tenet posts 3rd consecutive quarter of volume growth

https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/tenet-posts-3rd-consecutive-quarter-of-volume-growth/566597/

Dive Brief:

  • Shares of hospital chain Tenet Healthcare rose more than 3% Tuesday morning after reporting its third quarter results Monday evening showing broad-based volume growth.
  • Comparing hospital-to-hospital performance, Tenet reported a 3.6% increase in admissions and a slight uptick for inpatient surgeries (1.9%) and outpatient visits (1.6%).
  • The Dallas-based company reported a net loss of $232 million for the quarter attributable to the company’s common shareholders, compared to a loss of $9 million a year earlier.

Dive Insight:

Tenet CEO Ronald Rittenmeyer touted the results on Tuesday’s call with investors and said the company is raising its outlook for the year based on the numbers.

“We had a very positive third quarter with performance improvement in each of our operating segments,” Rittenmeyer said in a statement.

It’s the third consecutive quarter of volume growth, executives said Tuesday.

Rittenmeyer attributed positive trends over the past few years to a strong leadership team. “Tenet is in a much different place than it was two years ago,” he said.

Same-hospital patient revenue grew 5.8% and surgical revenue increased 6.9% on a same-facility basis.

Commercial volume trends were also very positive, executives said.

Still, they said the company faced more than $50 million in unanticipated headwinds including closures and costs related to Hurricane Dorian, lower California provider fee revenues and costs related to a nursing strike at 12 facilities.

The company is raising its outlook for adjusted earnings per share for the year. It expects adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $2.25 to $2.91 for the year.

The company’s other segments also showed growth.

Conifer, the revenue cycle management unit, reported adjusted EBITDA of $90 million, an 11% increase from the previous year period. Tenet announced earlier this year it will spin off Conifer into an independent publicly traded company by the second quarter of 2021.

USPI, the outpatient surgical business, has a steady pipeline of health systems willing to send patients to the outpatient facilities, executives said during the call. During the third quarter, the company added three health systems and expects to reach a total of seven by end of year.

 

 

 

Execs flirt with ‘Medicare for All’ at HLTH19

https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/execs-flirt-with-medicare-for-all-at-hlth19-despite-trump-admin-warnings/566373/

Despite Trump administration warnings about “Medicare for All” and other expansions of public coverage upending the private market, some executives at HLTH last week seemed more agnostic about the Democrat-backed plans, some of which would eliminate private insurance altogether.

​”It’s a symptom of a pricing issue, and a rate issue,” Vivek Garpialli, CEO of Medicare Advantage plan provider Clover Health, said. “Until we see a better idea, it’s actually not a bad framework to have a debate around and, unless a better one comes along in the next three, five, 10 years, it probably is inevitable.”

Democratic candidates hoping to take on incumbent President Donald Trump in 2020 are pitching a slate of proposals to give the current healthcare system a major facelift. Former Vice President Joe Biden endorses a public option and bolstering the Affordable Care Act, while Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are stumping for a Medicare for All-type system that would terminate private insurance.

The debate itself is a “good example of the fact that the status quo needs to change,” Tom Richards, global strategy and business development leader at Cigna, told Healthcare Dive.

Many healthcare tech startups have configured their products to be compatible within multiple platforms or companies, including myriad providers, Medicare, insurance on the ACA exchanges or employer-based coverage, so the payer platform doesn’t matter as much to them — or their margins.

“So long as innovation is maintained, I think it could go either way,” Pranay Kapadia, CEO of voice-enabled digital assistant startup Notable, said.

But executives, even on the startup side, seemed leery about the uncertainty Medicare for All would inject into the system.

“At the end of the day, the government is already unable to fully fund its obligations, from Social Security, to Medicare, to Medicaid,” Ali Diab, CEO of employer-sponsored insurance startup Collective Health, said.

“Unless someone proposes a means to actually fund it that’s credible, I just don’t see a way for the government to take on more of the financial burden,” he said, though he clarified he didn’t have an opinion on the politics either way.

Moving to some form of a nationalized healthcare system could drag down profit margins across the industry (especially for payers). Cost estimates for the plans vary in the tens of trillions, from Sanders’ $33 trillion to Warren’s $52 trillion, both spread out over a decade.

Democratic backers say Medicare for All will drive down overall costs in the long run, despite hiking federal spending. Warren, who released her plan Friday, pledged there would be no middle-class tax increases and that Americans’ pocketbooks would be helped overall due to the elimination of premiums and other out-of-pocket costs.

But industry isn’t so sure the government could implement such a sweeping plan, even if it wanted to.

“I just don’t see the legislators getting their act together to make this happen and, frankly, I don’t want to wait for them,” Marijka Grey, executive leader for transformation implementation at 150-hospital CommonSpirit Health, said.

At HLTH, Trump administration officials kept up their drumbeat of criticism of the idea.

It would “hand the reins to government bureaucrats to fix all our problems” and is marked by an “unwarranted confidence in government central planners,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said, while White House policy official and ex-pharma lobbyist Joe Grogan said Democrats “cannot accept no one is smart enough to design a healthcare system for all Americans.”

Few Democrats have released comprehensive healthcare proposals, though 11 of the remaining 16 candidates support some version of single-payer healthcare.

“Quite frankly, branding-wise it’s not horrible,” Adam Boehler, the former head of CMS’ innovation center, said. “In my opinion, it’s the content versus the brand in terms of whether something will work or not.”​

 

 

 

 

Healthcare delivery is moving “up and out”

https://mailchi.mp/699634d842fa/the-weekly-gist-november-1-2019?e=d1e747d2d8

 

Our graphic this week captures a phenomenon that we’ve observed in our strategy work with regional, “super-regional” and national health systems. We call it the “up and out” phenomenon—healthcare delivery is increasingly being pulled up and out from local, siloed hospitals. The traditional hospital enterprise, operating in what we refer to below as the “fee-for-service zone”, has typically pursued a service approach that delivers all things to all people. Commonly, the combination of reimbursement incentives and health system governance structures has encouraged hospital executives to prioritize facility profitability over system performance.

One important source of value creation for regional systems is service line rationalization—essentially, consolidating key services in one facility rather than performing duplicative services in every hospital. Centralizing open heart surgery, for example, in one “center of excellence” in a region often results in both lower cost and higher quality, thanks to clinical and operational scale economies. But the economies of scale don’t necessarily run out at the regional level—for some high-end specialty services (transplants, for example) it makes sense to consolidate at a super-regional or national level. For a better outcome and lower price, consumers will be increasingly willing to travel to receive the best value care.

Meanwhile, many services currently performed in the hospital can be more efficiently performed in non-hospital settings and should be distributed across the market in ways that are more convenient and accessible for patients. Traditional hospital economics make the “inpatient-to-outpatient shift” problematic, but as price and access become important consumer engagement levers, there’s little use fighting that shift. Indeed, the logical setting for much care delivery is in the patient’s home itself. This puts systems in the position of pushing care delivery to the hyper-local level, a strategy that can be powered by digital medicine delivered at a national level. All of this raises an important question for the regional health system: as hands-on care is increasingly pulled “up” to the national level (centers of excellence) and pushed “out” to the community setting (home-based care), and as national providers of digital health services can deliver services to anywhere, from anywhere, what is the value of the regional system? We’re working with a number of members to better understand and prepare for this new operating model.

 

Elizabeth Warren’s $20.5 Trillion Plan to Fund Medicare for All

https://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2019/11/01/Elizabeth-Warren-s-205-Trillion-Plan-Fund-Medicare-All

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Elizabeth Warren on Friday detailed how she intends to pay for Medicare for All without raising costs for middle-class households. The senator from Massachusetts said her plan will cover everyone in the country without raising overall spending, “while putting $11 trillion back in the pockets of the American people by eliminating premiums and virtually eliminating out-of-pocket costs.”

Warren’s plan relies in large part on redirecting existing spending toward a universal, federal health care system, while adding new revenues from taxes on the wealthy, the financial sector and large corporations. “We can generate almost half of what we need to cover Medicare for All just by asking employers to pay slightly less than what they are projected to pay today, and through existing taxes,” Warren said.

Some key details from the Warren plan:

Much lower cost estimate: Warren starts with the Urban Institute’s estimate that the federal government would need $34 trillion more over 10 years to pay for Medicare for All, but she slices that number dramatically — down to $20.5 trillion — by using existing federal and state spending on programs including Medicaid to fund a portion of her proposal, along with larger assumed savings produced by a streamlined system paying lower rates to hospitals, doctors and other health care providers.

Total health care spending stays about the same: Warren projects about $52 trillion in national health care spending over 10 years, close to estimates for the existing system, despite covering more people and offering more generous benefits, including long-term care, audio, vision and dental benefits. Applying Medicare payment levels across the health care system is projected to produce substantial savings that would be used to finance the expanded size and scope of the plan.

Heavy reliance on employer funding: The employer contribution to Medicare for All is pegged at $8.8 trillion, with employers required to contribute to the federal government 98% of what they would pay in employee premiums. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees would be exempt.

Public spending continues: State and local governments would be still on the hook for the $6 trillion they currently spend on Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and public employee premiums.

New taxes on the wealthy: Warren proposes a new 3% tax on household wealth over $1 billion — and that’s on top of her proposed wealth tax, which calls for a separate 3% tax on wealth over $1 billion (and a 2% tax on wealth between $50 million and $1 billion). Combined with an annual capital gains tax on the top 1% of households, her proposal projects that the new health-care-focused wealth taxes would produce $3 trillion.

Taxes on business and finance: Warren says she can raise $3.8 trillion through “targeted” taxes on big business and financial transactions, including a financial transaction tax of .01% on the sale of stocks, bonds and derivatives.

Reduced tax evasion: Cracking down on tax evasion is projected to bring in $2.3 trillion. “The federal government has a nearly 15% ‘tax gap’ between what it collects in taxes what is actually owed because of systematic under-enforcement of our tax laws, tax evasion, and fraud,” Warren said. “By investing in stronger enforcement and adopting best practices on tax reporting, withholding, and filing, experts predict that we can close the tax gap by a third.”

Revenue increase from higher take-home pay: Employees would no longer pay premiums for health insurance, providing a pay hike and higher tax revenues, estimated to total $1.4 trillion.

Abolishing the Overseas Contingency Operations fund: Warren is calling for reduced military spending, with a focus on what some call the “slush fund” that covers the cost of overseas military operations. Eliminating this off-budget spending is projected to save $800 billion.

Immigration reform: Expanded legal immigration would bring in $400 billion in revenue as more incomes are subject to taxes, Warren says.

A record tax cut? Once the new revenues and cost savings are added up, Warren says her plan will deliver what amounts to an historic tax cut. “No middle class tax increases. $11 trillion in household expenses back in the pockets of American families. That’s substantially larger than the largest tax cut in American history.”

Warren won plaudits from some analysts and policy wonks for releasing a plan, but the details she laid out are also being picked apart by critics and rivals, with some experts already expressing doubts about her assumptions and numbers. Here’s some of the reaction:

Congratulations from a conservative: “Kudos to Senator Warren for actually releasing a plan,” said Scott Greenberg, formerly an analyst with the right-leaning Tax Foundation. “There are a lot of things in here that will draw attacks from the left and from the right, and it might have been politically easier not to release it at all. But Warren has stuck by her commitment to explain her proposals.”

Criticism from a key rival: “The mathematical gymnastics in this plan are all geared towards hiding a simple truth from voters: it’s impossible to pay for Medicare for All without middle class tax increases,”  said Kate Bedingfield, deputy campaign manager for Joe Biden. Bedingfield argued that employees would end up paying the tax on employers.

Dire warnings from the White House: “It is the middle class who would have to pay the extra $100 billion or more to finance this kind of socialist government takeover of health care,” said Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s top economic adviser. “It would have a catastrophic effect on the economy and all these numbers that we’re seeing, all these numbers, on incomes per household, on wage increases, on jobs, all these numbers would literally evaporate and by the by, so would the stock market.”

Tax vs. premium: Warren’s plan will likely kick off a debate about the difference between taxes and health care premiums, and whether that difference matters, says William Gale of the Brookings Institution. “Does [the Warren plan] raise ‘taxes’ on the middle class?,” Gale asked Friday. “Short answer — it does not raise ‘burdens’ on the middle class.”

Cost reduction is crucial: “The key to Warren’s plan for financing Medicare for all is aggressively constraining prices paid to hospitals, physicians, and drug companies. We’d still have the most expensive health system in the world, but it would be less expensive than it is now,” said Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Warren’s plan to aggressively constrain health care prices under Medicare for all would be quite disruptive. On the other hand, every other developed country has managed to figure it out, so we know it’s possible.”

And the battle is ultimately political: “In laying out the specifics of her Medicare for all plan, Warren’s challenge is more about politics than arithmetic,” Levitt continued. “She is taking on the wealthy, corporations, and pretty much every part of the health care and insurance industries. Those are some powerful enemies.”

So don’t expect major legislation soon: “Experts will argue for months whether [Warren is] being too optimistic — whether her cost estimates are too low and her revenue estimates too high, whether we can really do this without middle-class tax hikes,” said economist Paul Krugman. “You might say that time will tell, but it probably won’t: Even if Warren becomes president, and Dems take the Senate too, it’s very unlikely that Medicare for all will happen any time soon.”

 

 

Adventist, St. Joseph merger rejected by California regulators

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-transactions-and-valuation/adventist-st-joseph-merger-rejected-by-california-regulators.html

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The California Department of Justice denied a proposed merger between nonprofits Adventist Health System/West and St. Joseph Health System Oct. 31, stating it’s not in the public’s interest.

The transaction would increase healthcare costs and possibly limit healthcare access in Northern California, the department determined.

In June 2018, Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist and Irvine, Calif.-based St. Joseph requested to form a joint operating company to integrate 10 select facilities in Northern California. At the time, the systems said their integration would improve healthcare access, especially for vulnerable and underserved patients. 

Sean McCluskie, chief deputy to California’s attorney general, disagreed with those predictions.

“The California Department of Justice is responsible for ensuring that any proposed sale or transfer of a nonprofit health facility protects the health and safety interests of the surrounding community. After careful review, we found this proposal falls short of protecting consumers,” he said.

In a joint statement to Becker’s, Adventist and St. Joseph expressed disappointment about the department’s decision.

“Our intent has always been to better serve our communities, increase access to services, and create a stronger safety net for families in Northern California,” they said. “At this time, our organizations will need to take a step back and determine implications of this decision. The well-being of our communities remains our top priority.”

 

Phoenix hospital CEO gets $85K raise despite criticism from board members

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-issues/phoenix-hospital-ceo-gets-85k-raise-despite-criticism-from-board-members.html

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The CEO of a public and nonprofit safety-net health system in Phoenix will get an $85,000 raise despite objections from two board members who questioned if the increase was excessive, according to the Arizona Republic.

Under a new five-year contract effective Oct. 25, Steve Purves, CEO of Valleywise Health, will see his annual salary rise to $685,000. Mr. Purves could also receive a discretionary $171,250 performance bonus and is eligible for a $68,500 retention bonus on Oct. 25, 2020. In 2020, Mr. Purves’ base pay will climb to $753,500, and by 2023 his base salary will be $872,191, according to the contract cited by the Arizona Republic.

The hospital’s governing board approved the contract in a 3-2 vote. The two board members who voted against the contract raised concerns about its length as well as the rise in salary and bonuses. They questioned whether a raise of that magnitude was appropriate, given that the hospital has faced federal penalties for five consecutive years over patient injuries and infections. They also noted Valleywise Health anticipates a $3 million deficit this fiscal year.

But the three board members who supported the contract said it was necessary to ensure Mr. Purves remained at Valleywise Health. They argued the package is similar to other CEOs at comparable health systems. They also praised Mr. Purves for steering Valleywise’s finances in a better direction, according to the Arizona Republic.

The final contract is $15,000 lower than one proposed in September. In that proposal, Mr. Purves would have received a $100,000 pay hike with a discretionary performance bonus of up to $175,000.

Read the full report here.