After failing to meet their self-imposed June 30 deadline to vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), Senate Republicans now say they’ll need another week in Washington before the bill may advance.

The transition to value-based care has led to consolidation and increased physician employment, but smaller practices may find a different option in pursuing alignments with other organizations which don’t involve giving up their independent status.

Even if Republican-led efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act fail, the party’s members of Congress have a way to stop the Internal Revenue Service from enforcing one of the law’s most unpopular provisions: the individual mandate penalizing people who remain uninsured.

Nearly halfway through the first year of Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act’s (MACRA) new payment tracks and hospital, a majority of hospital finance executives and professionals say understand the requirements of the new Quality Payment Program (QPP) but, in reality, still seem to be confused.

If the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) became law, Medicaid spending would be 35 percent lower by 2036 compared to levels under the Affordable Care Act, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report.

Noneconomic damages in certain medical malpractice lawsuits would be capped at $250,000 under a bill passed through the House with only Republican support on June 28.

The Senate will not vote on the Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act before the July 4 recess. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, informed his Republican colleagues at a June 27 lunch, according to multiple news outlets.

Some 22 million more people would be uninsured by 2026, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs would sharply rise while premiums would be lower and certain markets could be unstable if the Senate’s version of an Affordable Care Act repeal-and-replace plan becomes law, according to the Congressional Budget Office.