MA RATE RAISE — Medicare Advantage rates could increase next year under a CMS proposal released Wednesday — but it doesn’t go as far in tackling overpayments as some liberal lawmakers had hoped, Robert reports. The CMS proposal would raise rates by 3.7 percent in 2025, giving plans an extra $16 billion compared with this year. The insurance industry had anxiously awaited the update, as some of the biggest Medicare Advantage providers have recently told Wall Street that their business is struggling. PANDEMIC PRESCRIBING MADE PERMANENT — HHS made a pandemic-era flexibility permanent Wednesday: The agency finalized rules that will allow providers to prescribe buprenorphine — a treatment for opioid use disorder — through telehealth without an in-person visit, POLITICO’s Carmen Paun and Ben report. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said the rule, which applies only to certified opioid treatment programs, makes drug therapy more accessible. Why it matters: The opioid epidemic continues to ravage the country, with more than 100,000 fatal drug overdoses annually. What’s inside the rule: It allows for buprenorphine prescribing through audio-only telehealth; gives providers in opioid treatment programs more flexibility to decide when to give their patients methadone to take at home; and eliminates outdated words like “detoxification” to avoid stigmatization, among other changes. What’s next? The rules go into effect on April 2, and the compliance date is April 2, 2026. DEA is working on proposed rules for virtual prescribing of controlled substances like buprenorphine after 2024 when eased pandemic rules expire. It’s unclear when those will be proposed, but DEA has said it will finalize them by the fall. CPAP RECALL UPDATE — Since the FDA began investigating the breakdown of foam in Philips Respironics medical devices, it has received thousands of reports from consumers, Chelsea writes. Background: Philips pulled millions of sleep devices, including CPAP machines and ventilators, from shelves in June 2021 after it became known that the foam used in the devices to cut down sound and vibration can break down and be inhaled by patients. On Wednesday, the FDA said it received more than 7,000 medical device reports, including 111 reports of death, between July 1 and September 30, 2023 — as part of the 116,000 medical device reports and 561 deaths reported since April 2021. Company spokesperson Elco van Groningen told Pulse in an email that Philips investigates all complaints, and based on its investigations, “Philips Respironics has found no conclusive data linking these devices and the deaths reported.” He added that the number of complaints is “not typically but rather directly correlated to the increased awareness” from the recall. The investigation update comes after the company said Monday it wouldn’t sell new continuous positive airway pressure or bilevel positive airway pressure sleep therapy devices in the U.S. until it meets certain terms of a consent decree with the Department of Justice, David reports.
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