Compliance
This section focuses on health care compliance and regulations – both national and state – including the ACA. It includes changes in health care law, regulation, and court decisions and their impact on health insurance professionals, employers, and individuals.
As the omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 continues to spread across the country, U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to announce 500 million free rapid tests for Americans, along with federal help for stressed hospitals, and a renewed push for vaccinations and booster shots.
Insurers gave out approximately $2 billion in rebates for 2020 to nearly 10 million consumers under the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) medical loss ratio provision. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released Friday a list of insurers that sent out payments for the past year. The ACA requires insurers to spend a certain ...
Criminals have stolen close to $100 billion in pandemic relief funds, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday. The stolen funds were diverted by fraudsters from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and a another program set up to dole out unemployment assistance funds nationwide. More than $2.3 billion ...
Amazon has consolidated its healthcare efforts under one central organization and tapped a former Prime executive to run the businesses. The tech giant elevated Neil Lindsay to the new role of senior vice president of health and brand within Amazon’s worldwide consumer business, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Healthcare. CNBC’s Annie Palmer and Bertha ...
As the world experiences new, more transmissible Covid-19 variants, scientists and health officials in the U.S. are still struggling to gather accurate and timely domestic data to help inform policy decisions to safeguard Americans. Continuing gaps in the CDC’s data collection program, which almost two years into the pandemic still relies on state health departments ...
After spending more than 12 years as director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins is retiring this weekend. But he’s no less worried about the public health agency’s latest pandemic curveball. As the omicron variant threatens record-breaking rates of infections in the U.S., Collins departs with a warning. If Americans don’t take ...
The swift arrival of a new coronavirus variant has rekindled economic anxieties in Washington, as congressional lawmakers, business leaders and consumer advocates begin to worry whether there is enough federal aid to shield Americans from another round of financial despair. Over the course of the nearly two-year pandemic, Congress has committed nearly $6 trillion toward ...
Biogen Inc (BIIB.O) on Monday cut the price of its Alzheimer’s drug by about half to $28,200 for an average weight person after facing slower-than-expected U.S. sales on complaints from hospitals that its high cost was not worth its benefits. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug, Aduhelm, in June to treat the brain-wasting ...
Each year brings annual compliance responsibilities to employers regarding their health plans and federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) and COBRA responsibilities. It’s important for employers to be aware of – and adhere to – these responsibilities.
U.S. healthcare spending skyrocketed in 2020 as the federal government invested significantly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS’ Office of the Actuary released its annual report on health expenditures, which found spending increased by 9.7% in 2020 to reach $4.2 trillion. ...