New administration likely to intervene in bundled-payment initiatives
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule December 20, 2016, on its cardiac and orthopedic bundled-payment initiatives, but President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, Rep Tom Price (R-Ga) is likely to stop the cardiac mandatory initiative scheduled to start…
Editorial
Healthcare consumers and providers alike are watching to see what changes will occur under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Thus far, at least a partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) seems likely. That’s in part because US Rep Tom Price (R-GA) is Trump’s pick for Health and…
House passes legislation impacting ASCs
Editor's Note The US House of Representatives on November 30 passed the 21st Century Cures Act that includes two provisions benefiting Medicare patients and physicians in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association reports. The first provision creates a public website that allows Medicare patients to compare differences…
Henry Ford drops out of total joint bundled-payment program
Editor's Note Henry Ford Health System (Detroit, Michigan) is one of dozens of organizations that have dropped out of Medicare’s bundled payment model program in the past 3 years, the November 29 Modern Healthcare reports. In 2013, three of Henry Ford Health System hospitals participated in the first phase of…
ASC quality scores added to Hospital Compare
Ambulatory surgery center (ASC) quality scores became public for the first time in 2016. ASCs and regulators including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) say they are pleased to have documentation of their track records. But what do the scores really mean, and how useful, exactly, are they…
CMS publishes final rule for MU reporting
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on November 1 published a final rule that will allow providers in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) incentive program who previously demonstrated meaningful use (MU) to report to any continuous 90-day reporting period in 2016 and 2017 rather than a…
Medicare VBP bonuses down for 2017
Editor's Note More than 1,600 hospitals will get Medicare bonuses in 2017 under the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) program, which is about 200 fewer than last year, the November 2 Modern Healthcare reports. The results are concerning because fewer hospitals are getting bonuses and hospitals aren’t moving in the rankings,…
CMS releases final rule on OPPS/ASC rates
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on November 1 released a final rule that revises the hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) and ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system for CY 2017. According to the rule, hospital off-campus facilities will no longer be paid the same…
CMS adds VA hospital performance data to Hospital Compare
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on October 21 announced the addition of Veterans Administration (VA) hospital performance data to Hospital Compare. The performance data include VA satisfaction survey results as well as outcomes, behavioral health, and patient safety measures. Additional VA hospital data will be…
GAO calls for better alignment of quality measures
Editor's Note In an October 13 report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) called for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to set priorities in its effort to better align healthcare quality measures across payers and programs, and to make them truly meaningful, according to the October 14 FierceHealthcare.…
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