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Health Care Roundup: Medicare Payments for CAR-T; Cancer Screenings in Older Adults; Cancer and At-Home DNA Tests; End of Life Care; More

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CAR-T therapies, a cutting-edge type of immunotherapy, are seen by many as the next generation for cancer treatments. Of course, they are expensive and complicated to administer. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced long-awaited policies regarding payment for these treatments. CMS stated, “Medicare will pay for CAR-T therapies so long as they’re administered in health care facilities that follow the […]

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NCCS Concerned That Proposed ACA Rule Changes Could Raise Costs for Patients and Disrupt Treatment

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NCCS and member organizations of the Cancer Leadership Council (CLC) submitted comments to the HHS in response to the agency’s Notice of Benefits and Payment Parameters for 2020. The Notice contains rules and provisions that will apply to the individual market (the Affordable Care Act marketplace), and small group health insurance markets. The letter states NCCS’ concerns about specific provisions that may threaten cancer patients’ access […]

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Health Care Roundup: Health Care Spending; Survivorship Care Delivery; Metastatic BC at NY Fashion Week; Susan Gubar on Financial Toxicity; More

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This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published new health care spending projections for the United States. Unsurprisingly, Medicare spending growth is projected to outpace that of other payers in the coming decade due to enrollment growth and higher use of services. See a breakdown of the projections here. On Wednesday, six hospital groups laid out an eight-point plan for dealing with surprise medical billing, […]

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House Votes to Intervene in ACA Lawsuit; Drug Pricing News; Colon Cancer Rates Rising in Young Adults; More

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This week, the House of Representatives voted to formally intervene in Texas v. United States, the lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act (ACA). With support from three Republican members, it passed by a vote of 235-192. The resolution now heads to the Senate where Republican leaders will likely not bring it up for a vote. This vote follows passage of last week’s provision authorizing the House legal counsel to defend the law. […]

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NCCS Letter to CMS Highlights Concerns About Proposed Medicare Part B Reforms

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On December 31st, NCCS submitted our final comment letter of the year to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding the advance notice of proposed rulemaking for the Medicare Part B drug program.
In the letter, we outlined concerns that this proposal could have on Medicare beneficiaries such as impacts on patient access to innovative therapies, as well as concerns regarding the enormous scope of the test. NCCS suggested […]

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NCCS “Not Persuaded” Drug Pricing in DTC Ads Will Improve Doctor-Patient Communication

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Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that would require information about drug costs be included in direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements of prescription drugs and biological products. NCCS issued a statement regarding the proposal, saying, “While we understand […]

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NCCS Health Care Roundup: Gov’t Shutdown Threat; NCCS Webinar; Analysis of 8 Democratic Universal Health Care Plans; More

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After days of tense negotiations, the House and Senate left town Thursday with no plan to avoid a partial government shutdown. The House will return December 19, leaving only 72 hours for both parties to reach an agreement before a shutdown goes into effect at midnight on December 21. Most of the tension surrounding the potential shutdown surrounds funding for President Trump’s border wall. This week, NCCS hosted a post-election webinar […]

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Health Care Roundup: NCCS Meets with Senate Offices Re CMS Waivers; Poor Hospital Quality; Married vs. Single May Impact Cancer Treatment; More

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NCCS Meets with Senate Offices to Share Serious Concerns Regarding New CMS Waiver Guidance — This week, NCCS and other organizations in the Cancer Leadership Council participated in meetings with Senate offices to discuss the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) recent waiver guidance. This guidance would permit states to pursue waivers that would undermine the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its patient protections. […]

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Health Care Roundup: CMS Issues New Waiver Options to States to Undermine ACA; Open Enrollment Numbers Still Lag; Role of AI in Health Care; More

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CMS Issues New Waiver Options to Undermine the Affordable Care Act — This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released four new waiver concepts that would allow states to pursue alternatives to the ACA. This announcement follows recent CMS guidance that outlined broad authority to the states to design their health care systems through a waiver of key ACA requirements and provides states with more specific […]

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NCCS Strongly Objects to New CMS Waiver Options That Seek to Further Undermine the ACA

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NCCS issued the following statement regarding today’s announcement by the Trump administration outlining options states can pursue to circumvent the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Today’s announcement of these policy options follows previous Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance that outlined broad authority to the states to design their health care systems through a “waiver” of key ACA requirements and provides states […]

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