The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) will recommend Congress bump Medicare pay rates for hospitals in 2026. In a public meeting held Thursday, the group’s commissioners voted in favor of draft recommendations to increase general acute care hospitals’ base payment rates by the amount specified in current law plus an additional 1%. Such an increase would apply to inpatient and outpatient services reimbursed by Medicare.
6 health systems unite to create largest genetic database
Six health systems have launched the Truveta Genome Project, an initiative to build the largest and most diverse database of genetic and health information. The project will gather data from tens of millions of consented and de-identified volunteers, ensuring broad representation across ancestries, ethnicities, genders and other social factors that influence health, according to a Jan. 13 news release.
The year 2025 looms large for healthcare—a field accustomed to bold promises and slow progress. The pandemic hurled us into a brave new digital world, but the dust is settling, and the hype is giving way to hard truths. If the past few years were about disruption, 2025 will be about recalibration. It’s time to figure out what works, what doesn’t and what needs a second opinion. Let’s look at a possible prognosis for the year ahead.
Teva Pharmaceuticals is suing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for its implementation of the drug price negotiation program under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Teva claims the program is a “fiction” and “upsets the delicate balance between innovation and affordability,” in its lawsuit (PDF). The company argues CMS guidance contradicts key elements of the IRA, which dictate drugs are only eligible for the program if they’ve been marketed for a specified amount of time or declares they are exempt when non-branded competitors enter the market.
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