Announcement/Press release

CMS made publicly available detailed information on the ownership of over 6,000 hospices and 11,000 home health agencies that are Medicare-certified. Data elements include: organization name, type, practice location addresses, National Provider Identifier (NPI), CMS Certification Number (CCN); detailed information about each owner such as whether it is an organization or an individual and whether it is a direct owner or indirect owner; and a numerical associate ID for each owner to enable linkage to the enrollment file.

The Aging and Disability Business Institute at USAging is now accepting nominations for The John A. Hartford Foundation 2023 Business Innovation Award. Each year, The award recognizes aging and disability community-based organizations (CBOs) for their innovative approaches to reducing health care costs and improving the well-being of older adults and people with disabilities through contracts and strategic partnerships with health care entities. This award draws national attention to innovative strategies from the Aging and Disability Networks and spurs the replication of these approaches nationwide. Nominations will close Friday, May 5.

On March 16, ACF announced an award of $560 million to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program or LIHEAP, following an award of $1 billion February 2023. LIHEAP provides asssistance with heating and cooling costs for low-income households. Over 6 million households received funding from the LIHEAP program during the past year, with LIHEAP funding for Fiscal Year 2023 totaling $6.1 billion.

The CMS Innovation Center announced that the Medicare Advantage (MA) Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) Model will be extended for calendar years 2025 through 2030. Changes intended to address the health-related social needs of patients, advance health equity, and improve care coordination for patients with serious illness will be announced by the Innovation Center when available.

On March 15, CMS released initial guidance describing the requirements and parameters on key elements of the new Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program for 2026. The initial program guidance describes the requirements and procedures for the first set of negotiations, which will occur during 2023 and 2024 and result in prices effective in 2026.

The Council on Quality Leadership published a Q&A with ACL Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging Alison Barkoff about the Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) settings rule in their latest newsletter. The Q&A session explores the settings rule, and how states can implement best practices throughout the transition period for implementation.

The latest report from the AARP Public Policy Institute, "Valuing the Invaluable," examines current patterns in family caregiving, delves into the intricacies of family caregiving, and suggests measures that should be taken to tackle the financial, social, and emotional obstacles that arise when providing care for loved ones, including parents and spouses. The report offers a comprehensive analysis of recent advancements and prospective state and federal policies aimed at assisting family caregivers who play a crucial role in long term services and supports.

On Monday, February 27th, CMS released a fact sheet titled “CMS Waivers, Flexibilities, and the Transition Forward from the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency”. The fact sheet includes information on several topics including COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and treatments, telehealth services, health care access, including continued flexibilities for health care professionals, and information on the Inpatient Hospital Care at Home initiative. CMS reports that in the coming weeks the agency will host stakeholder calls and office hours to provide additional information.

FEMA is seeking public feedback from partners, stakeholders, and the general public on the “Achieving Equitable Recovery: A Post Disaster Guide for Local Officials (“Equity Guide”)”, developed by the Community Assistance Branch, Interagency Coordination Division, Recovery Directorate. The comment period will end on Wednesday, March 15. This guide supports local officials in their efforts to identify needs, establish critical partnerships, leverage new opportunities, conduct strategic public engagement, and make a strong case for funding in an equitable manner. Additionally, FEMA will host a series of 60-minute webinar sessions to provide an overview of the draft guide and gather feedback from whole community partners.

On Tuesday, February 21, 2023 The Association of Community Affiliated Plans, Medicaid Health Plans of America, and Sellers Dorsey released their highlights from the 2022 State of Medicaid Managed Care Report. The report covered five core areas of managed care across the country, the current state of managed care, the history of federal regulations and key changes, effective approaches from six states, innovations and successes from MCOs, and outcomes stemming from managed care.