Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
Policy Options and Alternatives to Reduce Medicaid Costs This is part three of a series I wrote on Medicaid spending reductions (proposed). Recent Republican budgets have targeted Medicaid for $800 plus billion in spending reductions. This final post in the series covers the likely choices available from a policy perspective, to achieve the savings target. … Read more
Potential Impacts of Medicaid Cuts on Beneficiaries and Providers This is Part II of a series I researched and produced on Medicaid cuts. The third, which I will edit and post later in the week, will wrap it up. With healthcare spending a major economic issue, I hope these few posts provided context for readers … Read more
Medicaid potential spending cuts have been in the news, elevated by the passage of the recent Republican Continuing (spending) Resolution. As Donald Trump ran and got elected on a platform of spending reduction/debt reduction (austerity) including the activation of DOGE (Dept. of Government Efficiency) to identify spending reduction opportunities, program behemoths like Medicare and Medicaid … Read more
Medicare home health and hospice billing fraud has emerged as a significant issue within the U.S. healthcare system, costing taxpayers billions of dollars annually and jeopardizing the integrity of federal health programs. Fraudulent practices in this sector not only drain public resources but also compromise the quality of care provided to vulnerable populations, including the … Read more
According to a Feb. 11 report by Chartis, 432 rural hospitals are at risk of closure. Chartis analyzed 15 indicators and identified 10 significant predictors, including Medicaid expansion status, average length of stay, occupancy, changes in net patient revenue, and years of negative operating margin. The full report is available here: CCRH WP – 2025 … Read more
Introduction Mr. Musk’s DOGE team has requested access to CMS systems, which manage over $1 trillion in annual payments, according to documents obtained by the New York Times. This initiative, led by Mr. Musk’s longtime associate Steve Davis, aligns with a broader effort to reduce federal spending by scrutinizing payments and contracts. Hospital and health … Read more
A bipartisan group of House representatives introduced a bill on Friday aimed at addressing and exceeding a pay cut for doctors that took effect at the beginning of this year. The legislation, known as the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act of 2025, seeks to mitigate the financial strain on physicians caused by the … Read more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the agency recovered $2.9 billion in resolutions to federal False Claims Act allegations for 2024 (fiscal year ending September 30). This is a slight increase from the historic $2.7 billion recovered in fiscal year 2023. Office of Public Affairs | False Claims Act Settlements and Judgments Exceed $2.9B … Read more
On Monday, January 20, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the U.S. While his claim of an election mandate is very debatable, the expectations that come with his return to office are many. Chief among these expectations is that he/his administration will “fix” the debt driven, inflation riddled economy of the … Read more
Yesterday, CMS dropped a memo to state survey agencies titled, “Ensuring Consistency in the Hospice Survey Process to Identify Quality of Care Concerns and Potential Fraud Referrals”. The memo is available here: qso-25-06-hospice According to CMS, the memorandum aims to bolster current mechanisms for detecting instances where a hospice provider’s failure to adhere to the … Read more