Editor's Note The American Hospital Association (AHA) on April 29 asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to suspend their pain-related questions in the Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program until concerns are addressed that the questions may contribute to the opioid epidemic, AHA News Now reports. The AHA says…

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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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Although many healthcare providers are still struggling to implement a value-based payment (VBP) model, everyone knows that the train has left the station and adjustments must be made. Shifting to a VBP system, expanding surgical patient care to “population health,” and developing a new generation of perioperative nurses are among…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 18 issued its hospital inpatient prospective payment system (PPS) proposed rule for FY 2017 that includes two adjustments to reverse the effects of the 0.2% cut it instituted when implementing the two-midnight rule, AHA News Now reports. Included…

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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 A readmission reduction program for high-risk Medicare patients lowered 30-day readmission rates, but the effect was small and did not achieve the goal set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), this study finds. Of 10,621 patients studied, readmission rates decreased from 21.5% to 19.5% in…

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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 The number of physicians that participated in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) “meaningful use” program dropped from 228,662 in 2014 to 226,514 in 2015, and hospital participation declined from 4,177 to 4,071, Bloomberg BNA reports. The drop in participation occurred despite repeated efforts by CMS…

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Editor's Note The patient’s clinical condition responsible for admission, age, comorbidities, and socioeconomic factors such as race, income, and payer status were strong predictors of readmission within 30 days in this study. The analysis included some 15 million patients at 611 hospitals from Premier healthcare alliance over a 2-year period.…

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Editor's Note In this analysis of Medicare patients undergoing colectomy at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, payments under the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative were lower than traditional fee-for-service payments, and the proportion of patients contributing to a net negative margin increased. Of 821 patients analyzed, 33.7% contributed to an overall…

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