340B fight heads back to court

NOV. 4: The CMS last month postponed the start of a new primarycare payment model as agency officials encouraged more providers to move toward value-based programs. Amy Bassano, acting director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, will talk about the agency’s efforts to advance alternative payment models during a keynote at the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. Our rules and regulation reporter Michael Brady will be on hand to report any breaking news.

NOV. 5: Behavioral health company Acadia Healthcare, post-acute provider Genesis HealthCare, and dialysis giant DaVita are set to deliver their quarterly earnings.

NOV. 6: Wall Street watchers expect Humana to report a 13.7% rise in Q3 revenue over the same period last year. The Louisville, Ky.-based company delivers its earnings report a week after announcing it was cutting 2% of its workforce by the end of the year.

NOV. 8: The Trump administration’s controversial plan to cut 340B payments to hospitals heads back to court. A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hears oral arguments over the CMS’ plan to cut hospital reimbursement by nearly 30%. National hospital groups challenged the rule, which took effect in the 2018 outpatient prospective payment system rule, arguing that the agency overstepped its legal authority. The courts have so far sided with the hospital groups. Despite the legal setbacks, the CMS pushed for continued 340B reductions in its 2020 OPPS proposed rule.