CMS Proposes FY 2017 Outpatient Payments
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has revealed how it proposes paying hospitals for Medicare-covered outpatient services in 2017. Among other matters, the 764-page proposed regulation addresses: proposed rate increases for outpatient and ambulatory surgery center services; new site-neutral [...]
A Closer Look at Social Determinants of Health
The National Association of Urban Hospitals often points to the socio-economic status of the patients its members serve as constituting one of the greatest challenges private safety-net hospitals face. That challenge typically takes two major forms: how to serve such [...]
New Approach to Super-Utilizers: Free Housing
A Chicago hospital is experimenting with a new way of serving its most frequent uninsured ER visitors: arranging for free housing. The University of Illinois Hospital has found that many of its most frequent ER patients, while suffering from numerous [...]
MedPAC: Make Docs Prove They Deserve Extra Pay
Medicare alternative payment programs should require doctors to prove they deserve the increased fees associated with such program, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Participating in such programs alone should not be enough to earn physicians larger payments, MedPAC [...]
MedPAC Offers Recommendations in Annual Report to Congress
In its annual report to Congress, the independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues offered a variety of suggestions for changes in how Medicare payments for health care. Among the recommendations offered by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission [...]
CMS Proposes Changes in Terms of Medicare, Medicaid Provider Participation
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has proposed changes in the terms under which hospitals may participate in Medicare and Medicaid. Among those changes, hospitals must: establish an infection prevention and control program with qualified leaders establish an antibiotic [...]
Medicare ACOs Showing Promise Among Clinically Vulnerable
A new study has found that Medicare patients with multiple acute or chronic medical conditions who are served by accountable care organizations cost less to serve and visit hospital emergency rooms less frequently. Such patients also had fewer ambulatory care-sensitive [...]
NAUH Comments on Proposed Medicare Inpatient Rule: Part 5 of 5
In April the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published its proposed rule governing how it plans to pay hospitals for Medicare-covered inpatient services in FY 2017. The rulemaking process includes an invitation to stakeholders to submit comments on what [...]
NAUH Comments on Proposed Medicare Inpatient Rule: Part 4 of 5
In April the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published its proposed rule governing how it plans to pay hospitals for Medicare-covered inpatient services in FY 2017. The rulemaking process includes an invitation to stakeholders to submit comments on what [...]
NAUH Comments on Proposed Medicare Inpatient Rule: Part 3 of 5
In April the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published its proposed rule governing how it plans to pay hospitals for Medicare-covered inpatient services in FY 2017. The rulemaking process includes an invitation to stakeholders to submit comments on what [...]
