Public reporting measures don’t indicate hospital safety
Editor's Note Common measures used to rate hospital safety, such as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Patient Safety Indicators and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital-acquired Conditions, do not accurately capture the quality of care provided, this study finds. Only one measure out of…
CMS, Joint Commission adopt 2012 NFPA 101 Life Safety Code
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Joint Commission on July 5 will begin using the 2012 version of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101 Life Safety Code in their accreditation surveys. The final CMS rule requires hospitals to follow the 2012 version of the…
CMS approves IMQ as new ASC accrediting agency
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 29 approved the San Francisco-based Institute for Medical Quality (IMQ) as a national accrediting organization for Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) that participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs (known as deemed status), the May ASC Focus reports. IMQ…
Medicare releases ASC quality data
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on May 4 released comprehensive ambulatory surgery center (ASC) quality data reports compiled through its Ambulatory Surgery Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) program. Among the data reported are: Quality data code-based measures, such as wrong site, side, patient, procedure, implant Safe…
VBP program rewards 231 low-quality hospitals
Editor's Note Through its Value Based Purchasing (VBP) program, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) paid bonuses to 231 hospitals with lower quality because their patients were less expensive, this study finds. CMS began measuring both spending and quality in FY 2015 to encourage hospitals to provide more…
AHA asks CMS to suspend VBP pain questions
Editor's Note The American Hospital Association (AHA) on April 29 asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to suspend their pain-related questions in the Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program until concerns are addressed that the questions may contribute to the opioid epidemic, AHA News Now reports. The AHA says…
Growing number of sickest patients removed from liver transplant wait list
Editor's Note Liver transplant candidates who are the sickest and should be first in line for a donor liver are increasingly being removed from the wait list because they are considered too sick to transplant, finds this study. Between 2007 and 2012, more than 4,300 patients were taken off the…
CMS proposes two rules to simplify physician documentation requirements
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 27 proposed two rules, scheduled to take effect in January 2017, that will ease physician documentation requirements. One rule makes changes to the “Meaningful Use” program. CMS is proposing to replace meaningful use with a new program that…
Teaching hospitals penalized for aggressive screening
Editor's Note Nearly half of US academic medical centers are being penalized by Medicare because their aggressive screening of patients leads to identification of more infections and other complications that trigger penalties, the April 20 Kaiser Health News reports. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) maintains that the…
CMS delays release of new hospital quality ratings
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 20 announced that it will delay until July the release of hospital quality “star ratings” on its Hospital Compare website, the April 20 Modern Healthcare reports. The ratings were scheduled to be released April 21. The delay stems…
Free Daily News
- Study: COVID-19's impact on oncological surgery offers lessons for future crises
- Study links pandemic stress to persistent increases in nursing-sensitive quality indicators
- Save the date for the 2025 OR Business Management Conference
- Study: Education, exercise improve knee OA with or without prior surgery
- Study: Early surgery outperforms endoscopy for long-term pancreatitis
- Study: Blood thinner, NSAID combination raises bleeding risk
- Hospital financial report predicts stability, high cybersecurity costs for 2025
- IV fluid shortage drives innovation in hospital hydration practices
- FDA Class 1 recalls target anesthesia workstations, ambulatory infusion pumps, ventilators
- Five leadership lessons from an ASC CEO