CMS proposes changes to price transparency rules, mental health services
Editor's Note On July 13, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposal that would increase Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system rates by a net 2.8% in 2024 compared to 2023, including a “proposed 3% market basket update, offset by a 0.2% cut for productivity,” the…
Compliance with CMS Hospital Price Transparency Rule linked to financial penalties
Editor's Note This study from Harvard Medical School, Boston, and Georgetown University, Washington, DC, finds that hospital compliance with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 2021 Price Transparency Rule is increasing since financial penalties were enforced. Data from 4,377 acute care hospitals operating in 2021 and 2022 were…
Effect of private insurer bundled payment program for total joints on outcomes
Editor's Note This multi-center study led by Humana Inc, Louisville, Kentucky, finds that a bundled payment program offered by a Medicare Advantage insurer for lower extremity joint replacements was associated with reduced spending without changes in quality. A total of 23,034 lower extremity joint replacement surgical episodes (6,355 bundled, 16,679…
CMS: Healthcare spending to reach nearly $7.2 trillion by 2031
Editor's Note This study from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary (OACT) estimates that US healthcare spending will grow by 5.4% per year on average from 2022 to 2031, now that the COVID-19 public health emergency has ended. Rising from $4.4 to $7.17 trillion,…
US population growing older
Editor's Note The median age of the US population rose to nearly 39 years old in 2020, and the number of those aged 65 and older jumped nearly 33% between 2010 and 2020, according to US Census Bureau data. America’s two largest age groups spurred the changes—more baby boomers turning…
CMS releases annual IPPS proposed rule for FY 2024
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), on April 10, released its fiscal year (FY) 2024 Medicare inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) proposed rule, which would increase Medicare payments by 2.8% for hospitals that are meaningful users of electronic health records and submit quality data. The 2.8%…
Telehealth care, MOUD during COVID-19 reduced risk for fatal drug overdoses
Editor's Note This study led by researchers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that federal actions taken to expand telehealth use for Medicare patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) and to facilitate provision of medications for OUD (MOUD) were associated…
Older Black men more likely to die after surgery than others
Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, finds that postoperative mortality was higher in Black men than Black women, White men, and White women. A total of 1,868,036 Black and White Medicare…
CMS penalizes 2,273 hospitals for high readmission rates, lowest since 2014
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), through the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, evaluated more than 2 years of readmission cases for Medicare patients and penalized 2,273 hospitals, Kaiser Health News November 1 reports. This is the lowest number of penalties since 2014. The Hospital Readmissions Reduction…
Rates of surgical consultations for Black vs White patients after ED admission
Editor's Note In this study from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, researchers find that Black Medicare patients were less likely to receive surgical consultations than White Medicare patients after being admitted from the emergency department (ED) with an emergency general surgery condition. Of 1,686,940 Medicare patients included in the analysis,…
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