Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 25 released its 2019 outpatient prospective payment rule, which includes cutting payments for hospital outpatient clinic visits as part of a site neutral payment policy. CMS estimated this would save patients about $150 in lower copayments for clinic…
Editor's Note The Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP) recently announced its Joint Replacement Certification program with options for outpatient and inpatient settings that demonstrate excellence in specialty orthopedic care, the July 23 Becker’s ASC Review reports. Hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers seeking Joint Replacement Certification must meet the following requirements:…
Editor's Note Cybersecurity firm Cryptonite reports there were eight major healthcare data breaches in the first half of 2018, down from 19 during the same time in 2017, according to the July 18 Healthcare Informatics. However, the number of patient records breached this year was up, with more than 1.9…
Editor's Note A Transparency Market Research report predicts the global market for small bone and joint orthopedic devices will reach $8.2 billion by 2023, with an 8.1% compound annual growth rate, the July 19 Becker’s Spine Review reports. Among the key players in the market, which is led by the…
Anyone who has been involved in an OR design and construction project knows it is a labor-intensive, time-consuming effort—and usually far from seamless. There’s almost always something no one thinks of until it is too late, and the staff must learn to live with the flaws. But a multidisciplinary team…
Value-based payment (VBP) models of patient care have not been shown to effectively reduce healthcare costs, according to a recent report from the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). But that conclusion comes with several caveats, such as: • It’s too soon to have data on programs like the Medicare Shared…
Editor's Note Preventability of readmissions changes with time, this study finds. Readmissions within the first week after discharge were more likely to be preventable by hospital-based interventions, whereas later readmissions were less likely to be preventable and more amenable to ambulatory and home-based interventions. This analysis of 822 patients readmitted…
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it is extending the deadline for its new alternative bundled payment model from August 1 to August 8, the July 5 Modern Healthcare reports. CMS extended the deadline after receiving complaints from providers and hospitals that they weren’t…
Editor's Note Patients assessed in hospital-based emergency departments (EDs) were 20% more likely to be admitted than patients at freestanding EDs, this study finds. Data for the 3,230 patient study, were collected from 2015 Cleveland Clinic statistics of its tertiary hospital-based ED and two of its freestanding EDs. Of 1,708…
Editor's Note An Acquire Market Research report predicts the global spinal fusion market will grow at a 4.54% compound annual growth rate through 2023, according to the June 21 Becker’s Spine Review. Reasons for the predicted growth are the: growing incidence of spinal deformity cases rising healthcare awareness increase in…