CMS published the updated payment methodologies for Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug plans this week.  Plans can expect an average increase in revenue of 1.66% in calendar year (CY) 2021, and CMS will continue to use the methodology described in the 2021 Advance Notice to derive the benchmark county rates, how the qualifying bonus counties are identified, and the applicability of the Star Ratings. However, rural and urban providers participating in these plans should refer to the Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Interim Final Rule for changes in quality data reporting for 2021 and 2022. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a toolkit that identifies significant telehealth-related changes made by CMS in response to the COVID-19 National Health Emergency. The toolkit provides resources to help long-term care facilities develop a telemedicine program, addressing vendor selection, monitoring patients remotely, and developing documentation tools.

HRSA is temporarily waiving query fees for health care entities to search the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). This waiver supports efforts to mobilize and deploy health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic by reducing costs and expediting credentialing, hiring, privileging, and licensing processes.

The NPDB fee waiver is retroactive from March 1, 2020, through May 31, 2020. The NPDB will issue query credits to reimburse entities that conducted queries (one-time and continuous) between March 1 and today’s announcement.

Learn more. For technical assistance, view the recording from the teleconference or contact the NPDB Customer Service Center.

Here is a summary of recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) actions taken in response to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), as part of the ongoing White House Task Force efforts. To keep up with the important work the Task Force is doing in response to COVID-19, click here www.coronavirus.gov. For information specific to CMS, please visit the CMS News Room and Current Emergencies Website. CMS updates these resources on an ongoing basis throughout the day; the information below is current as of April 16, 2020 at 10:15 a.m. ET.

 CMS Increases Medicare Payment for High-Production Coronavirus Lab Tests

CMS announced that Medicare will nearly double payment for certain lab tests that use high-throughput technologies to rapidly diagnose large numbers of COVID-19 cases. This is another action the Trump Administration is taking to rapidly expand COVID-19 testing. Along with the March 30 announcement that Medicare will pay new specimen collection fees for COVID-19 testing, CMS’s actions will expand capability to test more vulnerable populations, like nursing home patients, quickly and provide results faster. Medicare will pay laboratories for the tests at $100 effective April 14, 2020, through the duration of the COVID-19 national emergency.

Press Release

 CMS Implements CARES Act Hospital Payment and Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Waivers

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act increases payment for Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and long-term care hospital (LTCH) inpatient hospital care attributable to COVID-19. CMS provided guidance for IPPS hospitals and LTCHs on how to code claims to receive the higher payment.

The CARES Act also waives the requirement that Medicare Part A fee-for-service patients treated in inpatient rehabilitation facilities receive at least 15 hours of therapy per week.

 MLN Connects Article

Emergency Declaration Waivers Summary

 CMS Approves Additional State Medicaid Waivers and Amendments to Give States Flexibility to Address Coronavirus Pandemic

CMS has approved 52 COVID- related emergency waivers, 31 state amendments, 11 COVID-related Medicaid Disaster Amendments and one CHIP COVID-related Disaster Amendment in record time. States are using a toolkit CMS developed to expedite the application and approval of Medicaid state waivers and State Plan Amendments.

CMS recently approved two additional COVID-related emergency Medicaid waivers, delivering urgent regulatory relief to ensure the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands can quickly and effectively care for their most vulnerable citizens. CMS also approved COVID-related Medicaid Disaster Amendments that bring relief to Arkansas and Rhode Island. These approvals help to ensure that states have the tools they need to combat COVID-19 through a wide variety of state plan flexibilities.  CMS continues to authorize amendments to ensure emergency flexibilities in programs that care for the elderly and people with disabilities, including most recently for Colorado, Louisiana and Nevada. These approved flexibilities support President Trump’s commitment to a COVID-19 response that is locally executed, state managed, and federally supported.

Section 1135 Waivers

1915(c) Waiver Appendix K Amendments

Medicaid State Plan Amendments

CHIP State Plan Amendments

CMS has temporarily waived several Medicare regulations to support hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  The new waivers focus on reducing supervision and certification requirements so that practitioners can be hired quickly and perform work to the fullest extent of their licenses.  This Fact Sheet summarizes the new changes in addition to previous waivers that impact all types of providers, including Critical Access Hospitals, Rural Health Clinics, physicians, skilled nursing facilities, and others.

With the U.S. losing over 22 million jobs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, WalletHub today released updated rankings for the States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus, along with accompanying videos.

To identify which states’ workforces have been hurt most by COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on increases in unemployment claims. We used this data to rank the most impacted states in both the latest week for which we have data (April 6) and overall since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis (March 16). Below, you can see highlights from the report, along with a WalletHub Q&A.

Increase in Pennsylvania Unemployment Due to Coronavirus (1=Worst, 25=Avg.):

• 1,973.57% Increase in Unemployment Claims (April 2020 vs April 2019)
  • 238,357 the week of April 6, 2020 vs 11,495 the week of April 8, 2019
  • 17th lowest increase in the U.S.
•  773.17% Increase in the Number of Unemployment Claims (April 2020 vs January 2020)
  • 238,357 the week of April 6, 2020 vs 27,298 the week of January 1, 2020
  • 8th lowest increase in the U.S.
• 2,882.22% Increase in Unemployment Claims Since Pandemic Started
  • 1,298,125 between March 16, 2020 and April 6, 2020 vs 45,039 between March 18, 2019 and April 8, 2019
  • 26th highest increase in the U.S.

WalletHub Q&A

How do the job losses from coronavirus compare to those caused by the Great Recession?

“During the Great Recession, a grand total of 8.8 million Americans lost their jobs. The coronavirus pandemic has already claimed 22 million jobs,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “While there have been 22.7 million jobs created since the Great Recession, COVID-19 is unfortunately on track to wipe out all of the job gains by the end of this week, according to WalletHub projections.”

How do red states and blue states compare when it comes to increases in unemployment?

“With an average unemployment rank of 24, Red States suffered a higher increase of their unemployment during the coronavirus outbreak than Blue States, which rank 29 on average,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “The lower the rank, the higher the increase in initial unemployment claims that state received during the coronavirus pandemic.”

The state with the current largest number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is New York. How has New York’s unemployment rate been affected?

“New York has seen a 783% increase in initial unemployment claims from the beginning of 2020 to the 15^th week,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “This is better than the average increase of 1,709%.”

What can states do in order to minimize the rise in their unemployment rates?

“States should aggressively focus on helping the companies in the most need. The federal response will include sending checks to most citizens, even those whose income has not been affected by the coronavirus. States can use a more targeted approach to divert resources to the companies affected the most, thus having maximum impact for the money spent,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst.

To view the full report and your state’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-biggest-increase-in-unemployment-due-to-coronavirus/72730/

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2020 – USDA Rural Development has taken a number of immediate actions to help rural residents, businesses and communities affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Rural Development will keep our customers, partners, and stakeholders continuously updated as more actions are taken to better serve rural America.

Read the full announcement to learn more about the opportunities USDA Rural Development is implementing to provide immediate relief to our customers, partners, and stakeholders.