May 21, 2013 Jeff Smith, Director of Public Policy at CHIME
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CMS is accepting additional applications from hospitals to participate in Model 1 of the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative, the agency recently announced. The Medicare demonstration includes four models of care that bundle payments for multiple services received during an episode of inpatient and/or post-acute care.
May 15, 2013 Mark Hagland
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Marilyn Tavenner, R.N., the acting administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), on Wednesday, May 15, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as CMS's permanent administrator, the first nominee for the job to receive formal confirmation in nearly a decade.
May 15, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a nearly $1 billion initiative that will fund awards and evaluation to build on the Obama administration’s work to transform the healthcare system by delivering better care and lowering costs. This second round of Health Care Innovation Awards will fund applicants that have a high likelihood of driving health care system transformation and delivering better outcomes.
May 14, 2013 Jeff Smith, Director of Public Policy at CHIME
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A bipartisan call came from the Senate Finance Committee this week, asking healthcare providers for input on how to fix the “broken” Medicare payment system. “The current Medicare physician payment system is inefficient and needs to go,” Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said.
May 13, 2013 Gabriel Perna
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The American Medical Association (AMA), a noted opponent of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) mandated transition to the ICD-10 code-set, is not advocating the government to skip right to the ICD-11 either, the non-profit group said in a recent Board of Trustees report.
May 8, 2013 Mark Hagland
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On May 8, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services publicly released hospital charge information, unleashing a wave of mainstream news media coverage, with articles and broadcast segments highlighting dramatic variations in hospital prices, but with the American Hospital Association emphasizing that Medicare does not pay hospital-set charges.
May 8, 2013 Gabriel Perna
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According to a recent study headed by researchers at the University of Illinois, the oft-controversial transition to the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) code set will be a challenge for many providers thanks to convoluted conversion mappings. The convoluted, or complex, entangled, and non-reciprocal, mappings will possibly impact a provider’s staffing, supply management, and clinical revenue, the researchers found.
April 22, 2013 Gabriel Perna
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The Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank which proposes policy reform legislation, has released a proposal that would lower healthcare costs and ultimately, reduce the federal deficit by $560 billion. The proposal includes a Medicare system that would allow beneficiaries to choose from three coverage options including the current fee-for-service model, a Medicare Advantage plan, or enroll in new 'Medicare Networks' within traditional Medicare.
April 17, 2013 Gabriel Perna
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According to a report from researchers at Penn State, the Weill Cornell Medical College, and the University of Pennsylvania, reducing preventable readmission rates among Medicare beneficiaries may take longer than expected due to the challenges of care coordination. One-in-five Medicare beneficiaries returns to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, costing a total of $18 billion to the program, the authors of the report say.
April 11, 2013 John DeGaspari
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Five national organizations representing diverse constituencies involved in the nation’s healthcare system joined together in presenting consensus recommendations today for improving health care quality while lowering costs nationwide.
April 10, 2013 Gabriel Perna
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According to a recently published document in the Federal Register, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing a rule that would extend a regulation that allows hospitals to donate electronic health records (EHRs) to physicians until 2016. The rule is an exception to a federal law that prohibits payments of particular services that are meant to encourage a referral back to the hospital.
March 7, 2013 Gabriel Perna
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At the closing keynote address of HIMSS13 conference in New Orleans, James Carville and Karl Rove, two of the most notable political minds of the modern era, gave their contrasting thoughts on a variety of hot button issues in a spirited, lively debate.
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