Federal agencies and healthcare stakeholders have a renewed focus on addressing social determinants of health and health-related social needs as the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of...
CMS has updated its website, Medicare.gov, to include new features such as highlighting pages that answer popular questions and spotlighting key steps that consumers should take related to Medicare...
Most office-based physicians accept both new Medicare patients and new privately insured patients, indicating that Medicare beneficiaries have similar access to physicians as individuals with private...
The CMS telehealth waiver that expanded coverage for virtual care services during the COVID-19 pandemic helped increase access to virtual care for Medicare beneficiaries in disadvantaged neighborhoods,...
The number of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in the Medicare Savings Programs and receiving Part D low-income subsidies varied by state, as states have the individual power to expand eligibility and...
Medicare beneficiaries in low socioeconomic status (SES) areas had higher rates of avoidable hospital admissions and emergency department visits but lower instances of physician and care management...
CMS has released its strategy for health equity, which is the first pillar in the agency’s strategic vision.
“Advancing health equity is the core work of the Centers for Medicare &...
Medicare Advantage plans may provide better access to care and lower healthcare spending for enrollees, compared to fee-for-service Medicare, according to a study from ATI Advisory conducted on...
Out-of-pocket costs may dissuade Medicare beneficiaries from initiating treatment with high-price Part D specialty drugs, as beneficiaries without low-income subsidies were less likely to fill a new...
The CMS national coverage determination for the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, or aducanumab, may fail to support health equity, as underrepresented populations may have limited access to clinical...
CMS has finalized its national coverage determination for monoclonal antibodies directed against amyloid, a new potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
The agency moved forward with its...
Policymakers should consider increasing access to and promoting the use of biosimilars and monitoring trends in biosimilar coverage in order to bring down Medicare Part D spending, the Office of...
Medicare coverage for antiretroviral therapy (ART) did not improve overall spending for Medicare beneficiaries with HIV, but the therapy did appear to positively impact spending outside of HIV...
Uninsured adults with moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety or depression were less likely to receive mental healthcare services compared to adults with healthcare coverage, according to a Kaiser...
As the public health emergency (PHE) nears an end, policymakers must consider expanding temporary public payer policies that improve person-centered care for beneficiaries, including telehealth and...
As the Affordable Care Act turns 12 years old, CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) commemorate the law’s impact on the US healthcare system.
“On the...
Overall, Medicare Supplement plan enrollment decreased slightly in 2020, but a select few plans continued to grow with nearly 90 companies offering plan policies, according to an AHIP report.
Medicare...
CMS has released a national coverage determination draft for the Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm or aducanumab, but coverage limitations in the draft may create access to care challenges for seniors...
While precision medicine multicancer screening tests could blaze a path to lower cancer-related costs and earlier cancer detection, these precision medicine tools face many hurdles to acquiring payer...
Transitioning Medicare-Medicaid plans into dual eligible special needs plans may pose challenges that the proposed rule for 2023 Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D policy and technical changes...
