Senate committee advances bill that expands telehealth access for chronically ill Medicare patients

The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday advanced a bill aimed at improving care quality and coordination for Medicare recipients, in part by allowing greater use of telehealth. Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says the bill “will improve disease management, lower Medicare costs and streamline care coordination services—all with bipartisan solutions and without adding to the deficit.”

Teamwork is essential for navigating to value

Thom Walsh, co-founder of Cardinal Point Healthcare Solutions and author of the new book, Navigating to Value in Healthcare, recommends that practices looking to transition to a more value-based system first look at the publicly available data to understand what your practice looks like to outsiders about how well it’s functioning.

Who’s in, who’s out when it comes to MACRA participation

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had good news for more than 800,000 physicians who received notification this month that they do not need to participate in MACRA’s MIPS program this year. Physicians are exempt from MIPS participation if they have less than $30,000 in Medicare charges and fewer than 100 Medicare patients per year. 

Trump administration starts to chip away at ACA regulations

The Trump administration is starting to wield the power of regulation to minimize the use of Healthcare.gov, and more generally, lessen the influence of the Affordable Care Act.