CMS Proposal Would Mandate Hospital Discharge Planning
Hospitals that participate in Medicare and Medicaid would be required to develop discharge plans for all inpatients and many outpatients under a new regulation proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). According to a CMS news release, [...]
Hospitals Struggle With Charity Care Requirements
At times because of insufficient guidance and at times as a result of questionable performance, many non-profit hospitals are having a hard time meeting the Affordable Care Act’s requirements governing the provision of charity care as a condition of retaining [...]
Abandoned Patients
It does not happen often, but it does happen: patients, usually elderly, are admitted to a hospital, cannot make their own medical decisions, and no family members can be found to help with those decisions or post-hospitalization care. So the [...]
Patient-Centered Medical Homes Project Produces Mixed Results
A patient-centered medical homes program in Colorado reduced participants’ emergency room visits and hospital admissions. Yet it did not saving money. The program, involving 98,000 patients and 15 medical practices, reduced emergency room visits 9.3 percent from a baseline over [...]
One State’s Battle With DSH Cuts
Hospitals across the country are concerned about the degree to which the Affordable Care Act is reducing the Medicare disproportionate share hospital (Medicare DSH) payments that help underwrite the cost of the care they provide to uninsured patients. Those in [...]
Medicare Cuts May be Part of Budget Deal
The agreement between the White House and congressional negotiators on a two-year budget deal and an increase in the federal debt ceiling will be paid for in part with reductions in Medicare payments. Under the reported agreement, negotiators agreed to [...]
Responding to Budget Deal, NAUH Urges Congress Not to Cut Medicare Payments
In the wake of the agreement between the White House and congressional leaders on a two-year budget deal and an increase in the federal debt ceiling, the National Association of Urban Hospitals has written to Congress asking members not to [...]
Are Medicare ACOs Living Up to the Hype?
Not yet. At least that’s the conclusion to be drawn based on a report recently released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). According to a CMS fact sheet, …the 20 ACOs [accountable care organizations]in the Pioneer ACO [...]
Increases in Medicaid Enrollment Should Slow
Growth in Medicaid enrollment, significant this year and last, should slacken in 2016, according a new Kaiser Family Foundation report. That growth – 8.3 percent in 2014 and 13.8 percent in 2015 – should fall to approximately four percent next [...]
Low-Income Workers Rejecting Health Insurance
Low-wage workers offered health insurance by their employers are largely rejecting that option, according to a report in the New York Times. According to the Times, most of the progress in reducing the number of unemployed Americans has been made [...]
