California issues new regs for outpatient surgery settings
Editor's Note California Senate Bill 396, designed to strengthen regulation of unlicensed outpatient surgery settings, goes into effect January 1, 2016, the Joint Commission reports. The Bill builds upon existing regulations that mandate facility accreditation of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and office-based surgery practices that are not state licensed or…
Connecticut voters unaware of new 6% tax on ASC procedures
Editor's Note When polled earlier this month, 79% of Connecticut voters did not know a 6% tax on ambulatory surgery center (ASC) procedures had been implemented as part of their new state budget, the West Hartford News reports. The tax, to be paid by service providers, could push 25% of…
OIG warns against using EHRs to block information
Editor's Note An Office of Inspector General (OIG) alert reminds healthcare professionals and hospitals that information blocking in health information technology (IT) is a problem, and steps to prevent interoperability of an electronic health record (EHR) platform or services with other IT systems is not subject to safe harbor protections…
CMS issues final rules on “meaningful use”
Editor's Note The Centers Medicare & Medicaid Services on October 6 released final rules on “meaningful use” for electronic health records. The rules cover three components of the electronic health records meaningful use program: It finalizes modifications to stages 1 and 2, covers requirements for stage 3, and it addresses the…
HVAC task force issues interim guide for OR, SPD
Editor's Note A heating, ventilating, and air conditioning task force on September 28 issued interim guidance to help health care facilities maintain appropriate temperature and humidity in ORs and sterile processing departments, AHA News reports. The interim guide was developed as the task force is working to achieve consensus on…
New AAMI standard for endoscope reprocessing
The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) has published its first standard on flexible endoscope reprocessing. ANSI/AAMI ST91: 2015 Flexible and Semi-rigid Endoscope Processing in Health Care Facilities was developed from research and input from manufacturers of flexible endoscopes, users, consultants, and regulatory bodies. The new standard, which…
CMS extends “Two-Midnight” rule partial enforcement delay to end of year
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on August 12 extended the partial enforcement delay of the “Two-Midnight” rule from September 30 to December 31, AHA News reports. The extension prohibits Recovery Audit Contractors from conducing post-payment patient status reviews for claims with admission dates October 1 to…
ACS Advocating for Critical Access Hospital Relief Act
Editor's Note A central issue discussed at the US House Committee on Ways and Means on July 28 was the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Relief Act, HR 169, which is supported by the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Currently, for CAHs to receive Medicare Part A reimbursement, physicians must certify…
Penalties based on number of VTEs unfairly imposed
Editor's Note After a review of 128 case histories, Johns Hopkins researchers find that financial penalties imposed by federal and state agencies on Maryland hospitals based solely on the total number of patients who suffer venous thromboemboli (VTEs) fail to account for those that occur despite the consistent and proper…
Senate bill would let Medicare patients self-pay for medical devices
Editor's Note Four US Senators (two democrats, two republicans) are sponsoring legislation—The Accelerating Innovation in Medicine (AIM) Act—that would increase Medicare patients’ access to new medical devices. Currently, Medicare patients who are interested in self-paying for a device not covered by Medicare face significant administrative obstacles. Under AIM, once a…
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