Another resounding victory for patients who have been kept in the dark for too long! Thank you to the @CMSGov team for working on this historic rule that will finally bring price transparency to our hospitals! Starting Friday, January 1, hospitals will be required to post online the standard charge information about the items & services they provide, including the negotiated rates insurers actually pay & the cash price the hospital is willing to accept directly from a patient.

Tonight on @60Minutes, you may hear some revisionist history from people who have a vested interest in deflecting responsibility for the disaster at the Kirkland, WA Life Care nursing home & the tragic deaths in the nation’s first #COVID19 outbreak. First, some background: Nursing homes can qualify for federal funding, but must meet basic health and safety standards in order to protect residents. It’s our job at @CMSGov to ensure they’re meeting the standards to keep residents safe.

Here’s the answer…On March 13, CMS released guidance related to transfer of patients who had been treated for COVID-19 from a hospital to a nursing home. cms.gov/files/document…

https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1263175238059163648

It stated that a nursing home can accept a resident diagnosed with COVID-19, as long as the facility can follow CDC guidance for Transmission-Based Precautions. cdc.gov/coronavirus/20…

We’ve seen a lot of interest in our recently proposed Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Rule (MFAR), which is designed to protect the integrity of this critical program and make sure the dollars we spend go to the needs of its 71 million beneficiaries. Supplemental payments are payments states make to physicians, hospitals, and nursing homes above and beyond the routine reimbursement they receive for services provided to Medicaid beneficiaries.