Hospitals: “How’re We Doing?”
More hospitals are looking for feedback on their performance from the people who know best: their patients. While some just continue to ask and pursue such information informally, others are going so far as to create formal patient advisory councils [...]
Inpatient Rehab Facilities to Get Rate Increase
Medicare would increase inpatient rehabilitation facility rates 1.7 percent for FY 2016 under a new regulation it proposed last week. To receive the full increase, facilities would have to submit quality data on a number of factors, including patients with [...]
What is “Population Health”?
Among the three goals of health care reform is “improving population health.” But what is “population health”? Members of the faculty of the online Executive Master of Health Administration program at George Washington University decided to ask hospital CEOs that [...]
Proposed FY 2016 Medicare Payment Regulation Released
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its proposed Medicare inpatient prospective payment system regulation for FY 2016. Among the Medicare issues addressed in detail in the 1500-page draft regulation are: inpatient payment rates bundled payments Medicare [...]
NAUH Asks Congress to Reject Sequestration Increase
The National Association of Urban Hospitals has contacted every member of Congress to ask that they reject a proposal to increase future Medicare sequestration cuts to pay for a trade bill. Currently there is interest in Congress in adding 0.25 [...]
States to Have New Reform Tool
Come 2017, states will have a new tool at their disposal through which to pursue health care reform. At that time, states will be able to seek new state innovation waivers from the federal government that will enable them to [...]
Medicare Proposes Easing Path to Meaningful Use
The federal government has issued a proposal that would make it easier for hospitals to meet “meaningful use” requirements for 2015 through 2017. A draft rule published by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposes a number [...]
Perspectives on Community Health Needs Assessments
Because one of the goals of the Affordable Care Act is to improve the health of communities, the 2010 health care reform law requires non-profit hospitals to undertake community health needs assessments of the areas they serve every three years [...]
MedPAC Calls for End of “Two-Midnight Rule”
The independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues has recommended that Medicare eliminate its controversial two-midnight rule. At its recent meeting in Washington, D.C., the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) also recommended that Medicare focus RAC (Recovery Audit [...]
Looking at Payment and Delivery System Reform
Last fall the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation brought together grant recipients and national experts to talk about health care payment and delivery system reform design and implementation issues. Now, the foundation has released a brief paper that addresses what the [...]
