This year, thousands of individuals in Southern California were impacted by the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire. The fires were the second and fourth most destructive in the state’s history.[1] In 2024, millions of individuals in the southeastern United States were impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. These hurricanes made landfall less than two weeks apart, establishing a new record for the shortest interval between two significant hurricanes in Florida.[2] The Southern California wildfires and Hurricanes Helene and Milton exemplify the pattern of increasingly severe and frequent natural disasters attributed to a changing climate. Such climate-related disasters have profound implications for healthcare systems, underscoring the necessity for coordinated efforts between federal and state governments to ensure the continuity of healthcare services and access to medical care. As a result of the Southern California wildfires, over 700 people were evacuated from nursing homes and other care facilities.[3] In Florida alone, over 350 healthcare facilities were evacuated as a preventative measure against Hurricane Milton.[4] Hundreds of other healthcare facilities throughout the region faced evacuations, closures, and damage as result of the hurricanes. Preparedness and swift response measures at all levels of government are essential to safeguard lives in the face of natural disasters.Continue Reading The Role of Federal and State Governments in Maintaining Healthcare During Natural Disasters
AMA’s CPT Editorial Panel Approves New Codes Covering Remote Patient Monitoring Services
On October 18, 2024, the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel released a Summary of Panel Actions from its September 2024 Panel Meeting, which includes six new remote physiologic monitoring (RPM) and remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) codes in addition to revisions to the existing codes. Effective January 2026, these changes include removing the current requirement for healthcare providers to receive 16 days’ worth of data to bill RPM codes. The AMA CPT Editorial Panel likely made these updates in response to stakeholder feedback that the 16-day billing threshold was not necessary in certain clinical use cases. Additionally, two new codes will reimburse providers for 10-19 minutes of managing RPM or RTM data in a month. Continue Reading AMA’s CPT Editorial Panel Approves New Codes Covering Remote Patient Monitoring Services
HHS Releases Final Guidance for the Second Cycle of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program
On October 2, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released final guidance outlining the process for the second cycle of negotiations through the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. This guidance provides additional information for manufacturer effectuation of negotiated prices for drugs, which the statute refers to as Maximum Fair Prices (MFPs). Within this guidance, CMS intends to ensure that individuals with Medicare can access drugs at negotiated prices from both cycles in 2026 and 2027.Continue Reading HHS Releases Final Guidance for the Second Cycle of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program
CMS Innovation Center Seeks Feedback on Medicare $2 Drug List Model
On October 9, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center, issued a Request for Information (RFI) about the Innovation Center’s proposed Medicare $2 Drug List Model (the M2DL Model), which aims to test whether offering low-cost, clinically important generic drugs can improve medication adherence, lead to better health outcomes, and improve satisfaction with the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. The RFI includes a sample list of prescription drugs that it intends to include and seeks input from healthcare stakeholders on the sample list of drugs and other features (i.e., outreach efforts and maximizing stakeholder participation) of the model. Comments in response to the RFI may be submitted through the Innovation Center’s online survey portal by December 9, 2024.Continue Reading CMS Innovation Center Seeks Feedback on Medicare $2 Drug List Model