Maybe it was inspired by the new beginnings of spring, but what- ever it was, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rained “initiatives” like blossom petals on long-term care providers in March.

Not to make light of any of them – they dealt with the weighty topics of antipsychotic medication prescribing in nursing homes, reducing avoid- able... »

Whether election year ennui was the cause or not, Congress and the President started 2012 by putting off major actions that would affect health care professionals. One event pleased physicians, but the other, while rescuing doctors from an immediate and drastic pay cut, continued years of frustration rooted in the Sustainable Growth Rate formula for... »

It’s back. The payroll tax extension signed by President Obama on Dec. 23 included language that delayed the 27.4% Medicare physician payment cut ‐ but only until the end of this month. The tumultuous legislation also extended the exemption to caps on Medicare reimbursements for therapy.

The 2-month suspension in Medicare fee cuts provided no... »

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, intended to set up a voluntary long-term care insurance program, passed last year as part of the Affordable Care Act.

After a lengthy fiscal evaluation, government officials announced in October that CLASS would not be implemented because actuaries working for the Department of Health and... »

It’s November. You know, the month featuring that special day when folks who care for us hide behind closed doors while they prepare a feast for the senses, and then suddenly come out and present our favorites, or maybe not-so-favorites, on a platter. That’s right, Nov. 23 is the big day by which the congressional "Supercommittee" is scheduled to... »

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has included postacute care in two of the four Medicare payment-bundling models it will experiment with under the Affordable Care Act. On Aug. 23, the agency invited physicians and other providers to offer their coordinated services under models that define reimbursable "episodes of care" as... »

A lot of people in Washington didn’t get the memo this year: Going into August, you’re supposed to slow down. Congress should take it easy, limit itself to National Funnel Cake Day resolutions and the like.

But no, politics and government shifted into overdrive in late July, as the debt ceiling threatened to crush us all. As this column went to press,... »