Effect of preop patient factors on 30-day readmissions
Editor's Note Postoperative readmissions are difficult to predict when the patient is discharged, and of the information available at that time, preoperative factors are the most important, this study finds. Of nearly 240,000 surgical patients included in the analysis, 43% were orthopedic, 39% were general, and 18% were vascular. The…
Hospitals still using chargemaster markups to improve revenue
Editor's Note Since Medicare adopted its prospective payment system in 1985, many hospital executives and economists have suggested that the hospital chargemaster (list of prices for all hospital procedures and supplies) is irrelevant. However, in this study, researchers found that hospitals are systematically adjusting their charge-to-cost ratios (ie, chargemaster price…
CMS to give providers more options for complying with MACRA
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on September 8 announced that it will give physicians and other clinicians more options in the first year to comply with the new Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) quality payment program. During 2017, providers will be able to…
CJR bundled payments may penalize hospitals that treat elderly, sickest patients
Editor's Note Hospitals that care for the oldest, sickest, and most complicated patients could suffer financially under Medicare’s Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) bundled payment program, this study finds. The study analyzed data from more than 23,000 Michigan patients who had hip or knee replacements at 60 hospitals in a…
CMS releases payment adjustments for 2017 EHR incentives
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that starting October 1, 2016, hospitals that are still not meaningful users of electronic health records (EHRs) will be subjected to a reduced increase in their Inpatient Prospective Payment System rate, the September 2 Healthcare IT News reports.…
Bundled payments: Part and parcel of value-based care
Government and third-party payers are pushing for value-based, rather than volume-based, models of care, yet few hospitals are moving that direction, a survey shows. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires that half of hospitals’ payments be value based by 2018, according to a 2016 Health Catalyst survey…
Editorial
The shift toward value-based payment has gained some momentum with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) July 25 announcement of a proposed cardiac bundled payment model. Under the proposal, 98 randomly selected metropolitan areas would become accountable for the cost and quality of care related to coronary artery…
Study: Hospital readmissions sometimes save lives
Editor's Note Analyzing data on nearly 4,500 acute-care facilities, Johns Hopkins researchers found that the hospitals with the highest rates of readmissions were more likely to show better mortality scores. Data on mortality and hospital readmissions used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sometime fail to tell…
Factors linked to pediatric surgical readmissions
Editor's Note Patient and hospital factors were associated with readmissions after pediatric surgical procedures in this study. Factors associated with readmissions included: patients with an emergency department visit within about 1 year before surgery American Society of Anesthesiologists Class IV or greater Hispanic ethnicity late-day or holiday/weekend discharges. Most factors…
FDA expands indication for two transcatheter aortic valves
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 18 approved an expanded indication for the Sapien XT and Sapien 3 transcatheter heart valves for patients with aortic stenosis. The new indication is for patients who are at intermediate risk for death or complications associated with open-heart surgery. Previously,…
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