Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a guide summarizing technical assistance resources available to small, underserved, and rural hospitals participating in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and the Advanced Alternative Payment Model (AAPM). The guide also provides resources for quality innovation networks and…

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Editor's Note Research N Reports predicts the global healthcare information technology (IT) market will grow by 15.9% and reach $280.25 billion by 2021, according to the May 30 Healthcare Informatics. The growth is driven by demand for healthcare IT solutions that help lower costs while meeting regulatory requirements. Other factors…

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Editor's Note In this study, major teaching hospital status was associated with lower mortality rates for common medical and surgical conditions, compared with nonteaching hospitals. The analysis of 21.4 million hospitalizations of Medicare patients at 4,483 hospitals (250 major teaching, 894 minor teaching, and 3,339 nonteaching) found that 30-day mortality…

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Editor's Note The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on May 3 announced the release of a new toolkit to help ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) make care safer for their patients. The Toolkit to Improve Safety in Ambulatory Surgery Centers incorporates the core concepts of AHRQ’s Comprehensive Unit-based Safety…

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Editor's Note Postoperative complications add an important marginal cost to Medicare payments and lead to a substantial portion of payments to hospitals, this study finds. Analyzing Medicare data for three procedures from 2009 to 2012, payments per uncomplicated surgical procedure were $13,500 for colectomy, $12,300 for total knee arthroplasty, and…

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Editor's Note The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on May 1 expanded its “Access and Quality in VA Healthcare” tool to include inpatient quality data for all VA medical centers, the May 2 AHA News Now reports. The tool, released last month, shows how VA centers compare with regional and…

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Editor's Note In this study, data show that Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals have a similar or more favorable quality compared with non-VA hospitals. Data for 129 VA and 4,010 non-VA hospitals were evaluated on 17 outcome measures (9 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Patient Safety Indicators [PSIs], 4 mortality…

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As part of the shift to value-based care, a logical step for healthcare organizations is to adopt enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols. The literature supporting the use of ERAS is growing, with many studies demonstrating that it leads to shorter length of stay (LOS) and fewer complications. Results of…

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Editor's Note A study of 14 South Carolina hospitals found the use of a 19-item surgical checklist developed by the World Health Organization resulted in a 22% decrease in postoperative mortality over 3 years, compared with hospitals not participating in the checklist program. In the 14 participating hospitals, mortality was…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced April 19 that it is seeking hospital success stories about electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) capture and submission to share with other accredited hospitals via the new 2017 Pioneers in Quality: Proven Practices Collection. Hospitals whose submissions are selected also will be recognized as…

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