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Over the past 15 years, 110 rural hospitals have closed across the United States. The doors have been locked, the parking lots abandoned, the once-bright emergency signs gone dark. The closures rarely generate headlines beyond the local weekly paper, but their cumulative effect has been to redraw the American map along lines of medical access—creating vast territories where the most basic assumption of modern life, that help will come quickly when you dial 911, no longer holds.
Hospital groups slammed the final payment rule as inadequate, arguing the sector is facing significant financial pressures like inflation and workforce shortages. The healthcare sector also noted they have less time than usual to comply with the rule. The regulation was delayed, after a funding impasse centered on Affordable Care Act subsidies shut down the federal government for about six weeks.
About 22 million Americans would face sharply higher healthcare costs if enhanced ACA tax credits expire at the end of the year. Experts warn that the impact would extend beyond just families relying on ACA coverage — also straining hospitals, increasing uncompensated care and potentially costing the economy hundreds of thousands of jobs.
CMS updates guidance for telehealth providers post-shutdown
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued new guidance for telehealth providers impacted by the government shutdown. While Congress stood at an impasse over the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, the body allowed other programs, like telehealth and the Acute Hospital Care at Home program, to temporarily lapse.
Politicians to reintroduce bipartisan PBM package
PBMs sit in between drug companies, payers and pharmacies in the drug supply chain, and wield significant power over what drugs patients receive and at what cost. The middlemen have become a target for legislators and regulators in Washington looking to make drugs more affordable. In particular, policymakers have taken aim at the “Big Three” PBMs — Express Scripts, CVS Caremark and Optum Rx — that jointly control about 80% of U.S. prescriptions and are all owned by major insurers.
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