At the April meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), the panel voted to recommend a 30 percent cut to payment rates for standalone emergency departments (EDs) and indicated it may suggest action on hospital quality reporting later this year.

In an email to CMS staff, agency administrator Seema Verma announced Adam Boehler, CEO of home-based care startup Landmark Health, has been named the new head of the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Innovation (CMMI).

In fiscal year 2017, HHS and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recovered nearly $2.6 billion from settlements and judgments in healthcare fraud cases, with $1.4 billion being transferred to the Medicare Trust Funds.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is fighting claims from fired VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD, that the agency is moving toward privatizing veterans’ healthcare, issuing a press release calling such talk “completely false and a red herring designed to distract and avoid honest debate on the real issues."

Four of the five major health insurers in the U.S. are involved in major mergers and acquisitions discussed over the past few months. The lone exception has been Anthem, which may put the company in a stronger position, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In Democrat-dominated California, an intraparty fight is brewing over how to remake the state’s healthcare system. In one corner, advocates are trying to achieve universal healthcare by expanding the Affordable Care Act’s gains in insurance coverage. In the other, there are diehard supporters of moving to a single-payer system.