Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are recommending using unique device identifiers (UDIs) in universal health insurance claims forms to improve value-based reimbursement for medical devices and postmarket surveillance, the July 14 Modern Healthcare reports. Proponents say UDIs could help…

Read More

Editor's Note Physicians are trying to adapt privacy concerns and requirements to meet patient requests that electronic health record (EHR) data be sent to their mobile apps, including fitness trackers, according to a report in the July 7 Healthcare IT News. Meaningful use and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization…

Read More

Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 1 released a final rule that allows certain CMS-approved organizations, including for-profit companies and government entities, to buy Medicare claims and other federal data at a price matching the governments’ cost of processing the data, Modern Healthcare reports.…

Read More

Editor's Note This study finds that physicians who use electronic health records (EHRs) have higher rates of burnout and are more likely to be dissatisfied with their jobs because of the amount of time spent completing computerized medical forms. The findings, based on a survey of 6,375 physicians, found that…

Read More

Editor's Note Nearly three-quarters of physicians and health plan executives say quality measures are too complex, making it difficult for physicians to achieve them in a survey by Quest Diagnostics and Inovalon. Other findings include: 65% of physicians don’t have all the patient information they need 64% of physicians don’t…

Read More

Editor's Note Moving to information systems and data requirements of the new value-based payment (VBP) reimbursement system is proving to be a daunting challenge for healthcare providers, the June 13 Health Data Management reports. A survey of healthcare executives from 190 hospitals shows that only 3% of respondents provide more…

Read More

Editor's Note New York City’s (NYC’s) 825-bed Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital will close in 4 years and be replaced by a much smaller 70-bed facility while expanding outpatient surgery, primary care, and behavioral health services, the May 25 New York Times reports. Officials blame the high cost of health…

Read More

Editor's Note Vulnerable status of hospitals is linked to higher readmission rates after major cancer surgery, this study finds. Of 355 hospitals analyzed, safety net hospitals and high Medicaid hospitals had higher 30-day, 90-day, and repeated readmissions. The findings reinforce the need to account for socioeconomic variables in risk adjustments…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More