As the nation remains in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, PCG’s Health Policy News team continues to provide readers with updates regarding pandemic-related health policy developments. This year’s summer edition features the latest news from the federal level related ...
The much-anticipated final Payment Notice and Letter to Issuers in the Federally-facilitated Marketplaces was released early this month, with states’ concerns about the impact of COVID-19 evident in many of the finalized policy changes. The first post this month details ...
Last month, Health Policy News brought you breaking news about the legislation and guidance aimed at providing greater flexibility to states and providers as they struggle to meet health and service demands during this global pandemic; requirements relative to COVID-19-related ...
Introduction Health Policy News had planned content for the month of March, but given the unprecedented times we are all living through, we thought it best to dedicate this month’s entire edition to recent federal and state efforts to ...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidance on August 4th allowing insurance companies to provide temporary premium reductions during the 2020 coverage year in the individual and small group markets. Doing so would otherwise violate the federal prohibition on mid-year premium changes. Given the savings insurers have experienced due to a sharp ...
While the COVID-19 pandemic remains the center of everyone’s attention and COVID-19-related policy developments continue (for more on this topic, see this month’s COVID-19 Update), there has been a recent uptick in federal health policy developments unrelated to the pandemic. Below, we provide a brief overview of several recent health policy developments unrelated to the ...
As the country continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, Federal agencies continue to provide guidance to states and providers as they respond to the pandemic. As in our March, April and May articles, this post aggregates the latest updates from the federal pandemic response, including those relative to Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance ...
Although Health Policy News does not normally include first person perspectives or features on Public Consulting Group project work, we believe that the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic warrant an exception. As such, I wanted to share a quick note about my work on PCG’s recently-initiated contact tracing projects, assisting several states in building ...
On April 25, 2020, Health Affairs published a piece by one of the editors of Health Policy News, entitled “States Should Act Now To Mitigate Commercial Insurance Costs Associated With COVID-19”[1]. The piece focuses on actions states can take to potentially mitigate costs associated with COVID-19—specifically, examining the impact that COVID-19-related health insurance expenditures in ...
Health Policy News continues tracking federal-level action aimed at addressing the broad impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on actions to support states and providers in their efforts to respond to the pandemic and its impact. As in our March and April articles, this post aggregates the latest updates from the federal level, ...
On March 19, 2020, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released M-20-17, Administrative Relief for Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Impacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to Loss of Operations (henceforth “OMB memo”). Although many of the operational impacts and costs of COVID-19 are unknowable at this point, the memo ...
With filing deadlines quickly approaching, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released final versions of the Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters (NBPP) for 2021 and the 2021 Letter to Issuers in the Federally-facilitated Exchanges (Letter) on May 7, 2020. At the same time, CMS released accompanying guidance: Key Dates for Calendar Year ...
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the country, Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) continue to advance funding opportunities, temporary policy changes and waivers to support states, providers, and the public in their efforts to address the pandemic and its broad impact. This article aggregates the latest updates on the ...
As the U.S. continues battling the COVID-19 pandemic, individual states have enacted policy mandates and taken action to ensure patients have access to medication, healthcare, and COVID-19 testing and treatment—while minimizing barriers to these resources and/or the pre-approval needed to access them. With social distancing and the stay-at-home order still in effect, a nationwide focus ...
