Rule Would Expand Access to Telehealth Services, Enhance Diabetes Prevention Programs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing changes to address the widening gap in health equity highlighted by the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) and to expand patient access to comprehensive care, especially in underserved populations. In CMS’s annual Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule, the agency is recommending steps that continue the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to strengthen and build upon Medicare by promoting health equity; expanding access to services furnished via telehealth and other telecommunications technologies for behavioral health care; enhancing diabetes prevention programs; and further improving CMS’s quality programs to ensure quality care for Medicare beneficiaries and to create equal opportunities for physicians in both small and large clinical practices.

“Over the past year, the public health emergency has highlighted the disparities in the U.S. health care system, while at the same time demonstrating the positive impact of innovative policies to reduce these disparities,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “CMS aims to take the lessons learned during this time and move forward toward a system where no patient is left out and everyone has access to comprehensive quality health services.”

CMS Seeks Feedback on Health Equity Data Collection

CMS is committed to addressing the significant and persistent inequities in health outcomes in the U.S. by improving data collection to better measure and analyze disparities across programs and policies. In the proposed PFS rule, CMS is soliciting feedback on the collection of data, and on how the agency can advance health equity for people with Medicare (while protecting individual privacy), potentially through the creation of confidential reports that allow providers to look at patient impact through a variety of data points including, but not limited to, LGBTQ+, race and ethnicity, dual-eligible beneficiaries, disability, and rural populations. Access to these data may enable a more comprehensive assessment of health equity and support initiatives to close the equity gap. In addition, hospitals and health care providers may be able to use the results from the disparity analyses to identify and develop strategies to promote health equity.

Expanding Telehealth and Other Telecommunications Technologies for Behavioral and Mental Health Care

In the proposed rule, CMS is reinforcing its commitment to expanding access to behavioral health care and reducing barriers to treatment. CMS is proposing to implement recently enacted legislation that removes certain statutory restrictions to allow patients in any geographic location and in their homes access to telehealth services for diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of mental health disorders. Along with this change, CMS is proposing to expand access to mental health services for rural and vulnerable populations by allowing, for the first time, Medicare to pay for mental health visits when they are provided by Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to include visits furnished through interactive telecommunications technology. This proposal would expand access to Medicare beneficiaries, especially those living in rural and other underserved areas.

To further expand access to care, CMS is proposing to allow payment to eligible practitioners when they provide certain mental and behavioral health services to patients via audio-only telephone calls from their homes when certain conditions are met. This includes counseling and therapy services provided through Opioid Treatment Programs. These changes would be particularly helpful for those in areas with poor broadband infrastructure and among people with Medicare who are not capable of, or do not consent to the use of, devices that permit a two-way, audio/video interaction for their health care visits.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has put enormous strain on families and individuals, making access to behavioral health services more crucial than ever,” said Brooks-LaSure. “The changes we are proposing will enhance the availability of telehealth and similar options for behavioral health care to those in need, especially in traditionally underserved communities.”

Boosting Participation in the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program

CMS is proposing a change to expand the reach of the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP) expanded model. MDPP was developed to help people with Medicare with prediabetes from developing type 2 diabetes. The expanded model is implemented at the local level by MDPP suppliers: organizations who provide structured, coach-led sessions in community and health care settings using a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved curriculum to provide training in dietary change, increased physical activity, and weight loss strategies.

Approximately one in three American adults (over 88 million) have prediabetes, and more than eight in 10 do not even know they have it. Many are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes within five years. Several underserved communities including African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, Pacific Islanders, and some Asian Americans are at particularly high risk for type 2 diabetes.

During the COVID-19 PHE, CMS has been waiving the Medicare enrollment fee for new MDPP suppliers and has observed increased supplier enrollment. CMS is proposing to waive this fee for all organizations that submit an application to enroll in Medicare as an MDPP supplier on or after January 1, 2022. Additionally, CMS is proposing changes to make delivery of MDPP services more sustainable and to improve patient access by making it easier for local suppliers to participate and reach their communities by proposing to shorten the MDPP services period to one year instead of two years. This proposal would reduce the administrative burden and costs to suppliers. CMS is also proposing to restructure payments so MDPP suppliers receive larger payments for participants who reach milestones for attendance and weight loss.

Advancing the Quality Payment Program

CMS is taking further steps to improve the quality of care for people with Medicare through changes to the agency’s Quality Payment Program (QPP), a value-based payment program that promotes the delivery of high-value care by clinicians through a combination of financial incentives and disincentives.

CMS is proposing to require clinicians to meet a higher performance threshold to be eligible for incentives. This new threshold aligns with the requirements established for the QPP’s Meritbased Incentive Payment System (MIPS) under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015.

To ensure more meaningful participation for clinicians and improved outcomes for patients, CMS is moving forward with the next evolution of QPP and proposing its first seven MIPS Value Pathways (MVPs) subsets of connected and complementary measures and activities, established through rulemaking, used to meet MIPS reporting requirements. The initial set of proposed MVP clinical areas include: rheumatology, stroke care and prevention, heart disease, chronic disease management, lower extremity joint repair (e.g., knee replacement), emergency medicine, and anesthesia. MVPs will more effectively measure and compare performance across clinician types and provide clinicians more meaningful feedback. CMS is also proposing to revise the current eligible clinician definition to include clinical social workers and certified nurse-midwives, as these professionals are often on the front lines serving communities with acute health care needs.

Additionally, CMS is proposing to implement a recent statutory change that authorizes Medicare to make direct Medicare payments to Physician Assistants (PAs) for professional services they furnish under Part B. Beginning January 1, 2022, for the first time, physician assistants would be able to bill Medicare directly, thus expanding access to care and reducing the administrative burden that currently requires a PA’s employer or independent contractor to bill Medicare for a PA’s professional services.

Updating Vaccine Payment Rates

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of access to vaccines. The Biden Harris Administration has taken steps to increase American’s access to COVID-19 vaccinations and is committed to meeting people where they are and making it as easy as possible for all Americans to get vaccinated. That commitment extends to other, more common vaccinations.

Medicare payments to physicians and mass immunizers for administering flu, pneumonia, and hepatitis B vaccines have decreased by around 30% over the last seven years. In the PFS proposed rule, CMS is requesting feedback to help update payment rates for administration of preventive vaccines covered under Part B. In addition to seeking information on the types of health care providers who furnish vaccines and their associated costs, CMS is looking for feedback on its recently adopted payment add-on of $35 for immunizers who vaccinate certain underserved patients in the patient’s home. CMS is also seeking comments on the treatment of COVID-19 monoclonal antibody products as vaccines, and whether those products should be treated like other monoclonal antibody products after the COVID-19 PHE.

Proposal to Phase Out Coinsurance for Colorectal Screening Additional Services

CMS is also proposing to implement a recent statutory change to provide a special coinsurance rule for procedures that are planned as colorectal cancer screening tests but become diagnostic tests when the practitioner identifies the need for additional services (e.g., removal of polyps).  Currently, the addition of any procedure beyond the planned colorectal screening (for which there is no coinsurance) results in a patient having to pay coinsurance.

Under the proposed change, beginning January 1, 2022, the amount of coinsurance patients will pay for such additional services would be reduced over time, so that by January 1, 2030, it would be down to zero.

For a fact sheet on the CY 2022 Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule, please visit.

For a fact sheet on the CY 2022 Quality Payment Program proposed changes, please visit.

For a fact sheet on the proposed Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program changes, please visit.

To view the CY 2022 Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program proposed rule, please visit: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/current

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded $6.7 million to support the creation of new accredited and sustainable rural residency programs to expand the physician workforce in rural areas. The RRPD program is a multi-year collaborative initiative between HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) and Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) to increase physician training opportunities in rural communities and focus on improving access to high quality health care providers. The incoming RRPD cohort will collaborate with the RRPD-Technical Assistance Center throughout the duration of their three-year grant.

To learn more about the RRPD-TA center, please visit www.RuralGME.org.

President Biden signed an executive order (EO) titled ‘Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy.’ According to the release, the President signed the EO with the hopes of building on recent economic momentum to further promote and encourage competition in the American economy. The President hopes the EO will help lower prices for families, increase wages for workers, and promote innovation and spur up faster economic growth.

The full text of the EO can be accessed here, and the National Rural Health Association has highlighted a few prominent health care provisions in the text, below.

The President used this executive order to address his concerns within the prescription drug industry. The order directs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to work with states to import prescription drugs from Canada, directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to increase support, production of generic and biosimilar drugs, and direct HHS ban “pay for delay” procedures brand-name manufacturers use to keep generic manufacturers out of the market.

Most notably, the EO focuses in on hospital consolidation and their impacts, particularly those in rural America. In the EO, the President encourages the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to review and revise their merger guidelines. Further, the EO directs HHS to support existing hospital price transparency rules and complete the implementation of surprise medical billing rules.

The Appalachian Regional C0mmission (ARC) has issued a request for proposals from consultants to assess the extent to which ARC’s education and workforce development grants have contributed to the achievement of ARC’s strategic goals.

ARC funds approximately 500 grants a year, approximately 20% of which include investments that support educational opportunities and institutions. Education and workforce development grants support skill development and workforce training for students and adults with the aim of creating a seamless system enabling Appalachians to succeed in existing industries, expanding options for workers transitioning into different sectors, and encouraging innovation for future opportunities.

How to Apply!
Proposals should be submitted as one Word or PDF file to Regina Van Horne (rvanhorne@arc.gov), Program Evaluator Division of Research & Evaluation, by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on August 9, 2021.

The HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) has announced $250 million in grant awards to 73 local governments as part of a new initiative to identify and implement best practices for improving health literacy to enhance COVID-19 vaccination and other mitigation practices among underserved populations. Over the next two years, awardee projects will demonstrate the effectiveness of working with local community-based organizations to develop health literacy plans to increase the availability, acceptability, and use of COVID-19 public health information and services by racial and ethnic minority populations.

Learn more.

From the HUD Exchange

The CDBG-CV Broadband Quick Guide is a user-friendly tool that summarizes some of the ways Community Development Block Grant CARES Act (CDBG-CV) grantees can help narrow the digital divide through the provision of broadband infrastructure and services to communities in need due to coronavirus. The Guide provides an overview of the potential uses of CDBG-CV for broadband access under the criteria for eligible activities and national objectives in the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) regulations as well as Federal Register Notice FR 6218-N-01, including:

• Broadband Infrastructure
• Emergency Payments
• Housing Activities
• Economic Development
• Digital Training and Education Support
• Planning and Administration

The Quick Guide also provides examples of how a national objective can be met for CDBG-CV eligible activities and several models for broadband expansion in both urban and rural communities with CDBG and other federal resources.

Fierce Healthcare

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a major dispute between the hospital industry and the federal government over cuts to 340B hospitals.

The court agreed to hear the case during its next term that begins in October, according to an order list released on Friday. A decision could be rendered sometime next year.

The case called American Hospital Association v. Becerra centers on the Medicare reimbursement rate paid for outpatient drugs and whether the Department of Health and Human Services singled out 340B-covered entities.

HHS traditionally set reimbursement rates for drugs based on the average sales price and applied it across all hospital groups. But the lawsuit said that practice changed in 2018 when HHS singled out 340B hospitals, the lawsuit argues.

HHS argued that the cuts were to ensure that Medicare payments were more aligned with the costs expended by the hospital to acquire the drug, which would be lower for a 340B hospital.

The agency has argued it had broad statutory authority to adjust drug payments. A legal challenge from hospital groups followed, but an appellate court found that HHS had the authority to make the cuts.

AHA cheered the Supreme Court’s decision, arguing that the cuts have had an adverse impact on patients.

“We are hopeful the court will reject the appellate court decision deferring to the government’s interpretation of the law that clearly imperils the important services that the 340B program helps allow eligible hospitals and health systems to provide to vulnerable communities,” said Melinda Hatton, general counsel for the AHA, in a statement.