Full-year quality reporting will be required in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) for the first time in 2018, but clinicians haven’t received word from CMS on whether they’re eligible to participate, according to the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).

Following up on criticisms of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) at recent meetings, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) formally voted to recommend scrapping the payment system, arguing the program replicates flaws from those it was meant to replace.

CMS has released guidance for how states can seek Medicaid waivers imposing requirements for beneficiaries to work in order to receive coverage, a move which some healthcare groups quickly condemned and threatened to sue in order to stop.

A never-before-released document shows the extent of plans within HHS and the Trump administration to alter the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through executive and regulatory action, many of which have since been enacted.

Humana has terminated its membership in America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the largest lobbying group for the health insurance industry, following the departures of other major insurers in recent years. 

Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), again denied the agency has banned words such as “fetus,” “science-based” and “transgender” from official documents in a letter to Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, but did reveal the style guide used by HHS recommends avoiding certain words and substituting others.

State lawmakers in Maryland have proposed an alternative means to encourage people to maintain health insurance following the repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate through the Republican-supported tax cut legislation.

Former Eli Lilly executive Alex Azar faced another grilling before members of Congress, being questioned by the Senate Finance Committee, which will decide whether to advance his nomination to the full Senate. The hearing highlighted one major difference between Azar and former HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD, when it came to mandatory payment models.