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January 08, 2016 at 10:51 AM
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is gearing up for what could be a fierce battle over future rules for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) risk-adjustment program.
CMS, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), says it will publish a white paper on possible risk-adjustment methods in the next few months and holding a meeting on the topic in Baltimore on March 25. [After press time, CMS pushed the date back to March 31.]
CMS is preparing to publish a meeting notice in the Federal Register Monday.
The meeting will let insurers, states and other interested parties discuss the contents of the white paper, CMS officials say in the notice.
“This meeting will also provide an opportunity for participants to ask clarifying questions,” officials say. “The comments and information HHS obtains through this meeting may be used in future policy making for the HHS risk-adjustment program.”
See also: UnitedHealth Says N.Y. PPACA risk-adjustment program could be in trouble
Participants can either go to Baltimore or appear via a webinar system. An organization can send two representatives to the in-person meeting or have three representatives logging into the webinar.
CMS is registering the organizations that want to participate on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The registration deadline is March 18 for in-person participants and March 23 for webinar participants.
The in-person version of the meeting “will be held in a federal government building,” officials say. “Therefore, federal security measures are applicable.”
An in-person meeting attendee will have to show government-issued photographic ID to the guards and allow guards to inspect the interior and trunk of any vehicle the attendee parks on the grounds.
The PPACA risk-adjustment program is one of the three “3 R’s” PPACA risk management programs. A temporary PPACA reinsurance program is supposed to use cash from a broad fee to help insurers cover the costs of individual coverage enrollees with catastrophic claims in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
