Important ASC Medicare quality reporting deadlines approaching
Editor's Note All eligible Medicare-certified ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) that want to avoid future penalties must complete a new electronic form by April 14 via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network website in order to report on ASC-8: Influenza Vaccination Coverage among Healthcare Personnel, the Ambulatory…
EHRs hinder ability to report quality measures
Editor's Note The poor design of electronic health records (EHRs) poses challenges for primary care practices to generate the required reports for federal value-based payment programs, this study finds. An analysis of survey responses from 1,492 practices in 12 states, found that the reports generated for meaningful-use participation, which requires…
Outpatient vs inpatient anterior cervical discectomy, fusion
Editor's Note Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) can be performed on an outpatient basis with comparable morbidity, readmission rates, and lower costs as on an inpatient basis, finds this study. In this analysis of 3,135 outpatient and 46,966 inpatient ACDFs, the mean Charlson comorbidity index, length of stay, and…
BCBS pilots hip, knee bundled model
Editor's Note Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Michigan is piloting a bundled payment program for hip and knee replacements, the March 27 HealthcareDive reports. The pilot, which includes 64 surgeons at seven healthcare systems, will use a mix of inpatient and outpatient settings in an effort to reduce the…
ECRI Institute issues free white paper on purchased services best practices
Editor's note The ECRI Institute on April 2 issued a free white paper on “5 Ways to Drive Savings and Quality on Your Purchased Services.” The 5 key areas to consider when developing a best practice process to evaluate purchased services, reduce spending, and make informed vendor selections are: Making…
Study: Surgeon performance benefits from ‘warm-up’
Editor's Note In this study from the UK, researchers found a robust relationship between a surgeon’s daily OR schedule and surgical performance (indexed by duration of procedure). The researchers say surgeons should reorder their OR schedule, starting their days with the simpler cases and building up to the more difficult…
AHRQ helps promote Patient Safety Awareness Week
Editor's Note The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is working with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement/National Patient Safety Foundation and sister Health and Human Services agencies to promote a wide variety of information and activities for Patient Safety Awareness Week March 11 to March 17. The annual…
Study: MIS vs open surgery in Medicare population
Editor's Note In this study led by Martin A. Makary, MD, MPH, professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) was associated with better outcomes than open procedures in the Medicare population. Of 233,984 Medicare patients who had one of seven common surgical…
CMS extends deadline for eCQM data, EHR incentive program submission
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is notifying eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals that they now have until March 16 to attest for Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program requirements for CY 2017 and to submit electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) data for the…
Study: Efficiency, safety of overlapping surgery
Editor's Note In this study to evaluate the efficiency and safety of overlapping surgery at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, researchers found that the practice does not expose patients to increased risk of negative outcomes. Of 26,260 cases analyzed for surgical time and 15,106 for outcomes, overlapping surgery patients had:…
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