CMS to Cut Medicare Payment Rates, FDA Approves OTC Birth Control
The 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule will cut payments to providers, and the FDA has approved over-the-counter sales of birth control for the first time.
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By - In healthcare policy news this week, the Opill, a progestin-only daily birth control pill, will be available without a prescription in early 2024. Meanwhile, CMS plans to cut payment rates for some specialty physician roles next year in a move that has angered provider organizations.
NYC Improves HIE Capabilities with Vendor Partner
New York City and Long Island’s health information exchange (HIE) announced a partnership with Unite US last week to support social determinants of health (SDOH) initiatives across the New York metropolitan area. The collaboration between the HIE firm, Healthix, and Unite US will establish a communication infrastructure to track SDOH data and provide customers with access to community services like transportation, housing, food, and other benefits. READ MORE.
White House Issues Cybersecurity Implementation Plan
On Thursday, the White House published its National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan (NCSIP), which involves initiatives to protect critical infrastructure sectors, including healthcare.
“This strategy takes on the systemic challenge that too much of the responsibility for cybersecurity has fallen on individual users and small organizations. By working in partnership with industry; civil society; and State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments, we will rebalance the responsibility for cybersecurity to be more effective and more equitable,” President Joe Biden stated in the introduction to the NCSIP. READ MORE.
FDA Approves OTC Birth Control
FDA officials approved the first hormonal contraceptive for over-the-counter sale to increase patient access to medicine after the fall of Roe v. Wade. The Opill, first approved in 1973, is a daily oral contraception method that has been shown to be safe and effective at reducing unplanned pregnancies. The drug will be available in early 2024 at a yet-to-be-determined price point. READ MORE.
White House Plan Address Xylazine and Fentanyl
The Biden-Harris administration escalated the fight against xylazine and fentanyl drug overdoses with a national response plan published last Monday. The Administration introduced six pillars of action to address the public health threat, including testing, data collection, prevention, supply reduction, scheduling, and research. The scourge of fentanyl combined with xylazine has grown precipitously during the COVID-19 pandemic contributing to nearly three times as many overdose deaths in 2022 as in 2019. READ MORE.
CMS Proposes New Payment Cuts
The 2024 Medicare Physician Fee schedule includes a 3.34 percent decrease in the conversion factor that will effectively decrease payment rates by 1.25 percent. The proposed cuts will affect specialties like emergency medicine, radiation oncology, and others, while primary care and internal medicine see modest bumps in the payment rates.
“Medicare already largely fails to cover the cost of furnishing care to beneficiaries, and the proposed cut to the 2024 conversion factor compounds the problem. Implementation of a new add-on code (G2211) for complex patients highlights CMS’ flawed approach to addressing inadequate Medicare payments for primary care services using a budget-neutral methodology,” Anders Gilberg, SVP of Government Affairs at MGMA, said in a statement emailed to RevCycleIntelligence. READ MORE.
