Dreesen plans to be on site during each work week and deploy Cypress resources to the hospital as needed, as well as apply his knowledge of hospital operations and oversight of clinical departments, quality improvement and finance and revenue cycle management.
CMS is proposing a 3.4% reduction to the Medicare Part B conversion factor in the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) proposed rule. The agency is also floating expanded telehealth and dental coverage among numerous other changes.
Physician groups have already mobilized to lobby Congress to halt the 3.4% reduction to the conversation factor. In a statement, the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) said the cuts would add pressure to practices that are already struggling financially and could lead to reductions in staffing and services that would negatively affect beneficiaries. The American Medical Association (AMA) called the cuts “almost biblical” in its statement. The AMA, as well as the AMGA and other physician groups, have called on Congress to take action on legislation to address the proposed payment reduction.
As part of the calendar year (CY) 2024 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule and other Medicare Part B issues, CMS has proposed a nearly 3.4% cut to the conversion factor to the schedule. In response, many physician groups have expressed concern.
Medicare applies the conversion factor to relative value units to calculate reimbursement for certain services and procedures in the fee-for-service system, and the proposed conversion factor of $32.74 in 2024 would mean a 3.4% cut from 2023’s $33.88 rate.
A group of 17 hospitals and health systems sued about 1,600 New Yorkers to collect medical debts totaling about $9 million since early 2022, despite efforts seeking to end the controversial practice, the USA TODAY Network found.
The lawsuits — which can disrupt lives and deepen suffering for patients battling illness — came after some other hospitals halted debt-collection lawsuits during the pandemic, as advocates and lawmakers pushed measures restricting medical-debt collections, according to a review of thousands of pages of court records.
Under legislation signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Janet Mills, a state task force will investigate "facility fees" hospitals and other health care providers often charge patients to defray overhead costs for the buildings where they receive care.
The new law also requires providers to report the fees to the state, which will share them publicly.