CMS plans to require ASCs to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for staff members.
Here are seven recent updates from CMS:
1. CMS is expanding the duration of its annual open enrollment period by 30 days. Beginning this year, the open enrollment period will run from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15, 2022.
2. CMS wants to rescind a rule introduced by former President Donald Trump's administration that lets Medicare cover medical devices that the FDA designates as "breakthrough" technologies.
3. The Biden administration issued proposed rules that include a detailed process for enforcing surprise billing protections.
4. CMS placed sanctions on three of UnitedHealthcare's Medicare Advantage plans, barring them from being sold in six states. The penalties come from a CMS oversight and enforcement group that found that, between 2018 and 2020, the plans did not meet the 85 percent threshold of premium revenue spent on Medicare Advantage members.
5. CMS is reviewing its decision to deny a majority of requests by hospitals for a mid-build exception to the site-neutral payment policy.
6. Hospitals are concerned that the No Surprises Act won't address the main problems driving high surprise medical bills and that its implementation date is coming too soon for them to adequately prepare.
7. CMS plans to require ASCs, along with all other healthcare providers, to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for staff as a condition of participating in Medicare.