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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Healthcare, business, and political leaders convened at the World Healthcare Congress in Washington, DC, in April to discuss payment, regulatory reforms, new technology, and evolving models of patient care. During the Nurse Leadership Summit portion of the conference, a session on population health management was noteworthy. Panel members discussed transitional…

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Editor's Note A new analysis by Avalere Health (Washington, DC) finds that 60% of hospitals participating in Medicare’s Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement bundled-payment model could face penalties if they don’t reduce their costs. The average total joint costs around $13,000, but the entire episode-of-care costs twice that at $26,000.…

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Editor's Note San Diego-based Scripps Health announced March 21 that it will restructure its management and eliminate about 100 jobs, mostly from management and administration, in an effort to reduce operating expenses, Modern Healthcare reports. A memo to Scripps employees noted that although Scripps has enjoyed healthy operating margins and…

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Editor's Note Physicians are beginning to dread what some are calling “EHR pajama time”--the 1 to 2 hours they now have to spend at home finishing up their electronic health record (EHR) documentation after their kids have gone to bed, notes the ACS Surgery News, reporting on a session at the…

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Editor's Note Over the next 10 years, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will cost $1.34 trillion, which is $136 billion more than the Congressional Budget Office predicted a year ago, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The hike in costs is mostly a result of higher-than-expected enrollment in the expanded Medicaid…

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