CMS Releases Rules Aimed At Relieving Regulatory Burdens For Hospitals, Home Health Centers

The new rules from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services modify discharge planning requirements and allow health systems to share a centralized staff for quality assessment, performance improvement and infection control programs across several hospitals. CMS also finalized another rule that requires that all hospitals have an antibiotic stewardship program. Meanwhile, health care providers are pushing back against a recent Department of Health and Human Services proposal to expand law enforcement's access to patient records during a criminal investigation.

Modern Healthcare: New CMS Rules Cut Red Tape, Mandate Discharge Planning

The CMS on Wednesday released final rules that cut regulatory burdens for Medicare and Medicaid providers and modify discharge planning requirements for hospitals, critical access hospitals and home health agencies. The agency's new burden rule delivers regulatory relief and $843 million in savings in the first year to a wide range of providers, amounting to more than $8 billion in reduced costs over 10 years. It's part of the CMS' Patients Over Paperwork initiative, which the agency created in 2017 as a response to President Donald Trump's request to cut red tape. (Brady, 9/25)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Finalizes Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Requirements

The CMS on Wednesday finalized a rule requiring all hospitals to have antibiotic stewardship programs, which experts say is a big step forward in the fight against superbugs. The rule was first proposed in 2016 and requires all acute-care and critical access hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid to develop and implement an antibiotic stewardship program as part of their infection control efforts. (Johnson, 9/26)

Modern Healthcare: Providers Push Back On Loosening Patient Privacy For Criminal Investigations

Some providers have come out against a recent HHS proposal that would expand law enforcement's access to patient records that involve addiction treatment information, worrying it could deter people from seeking care. The proposal from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration would allow courts to authorize disclosure of these patient records when investigating certain crimes, including alleged drug trafficking. Senior officials have described these regulations, known as CFR Part 2, as "so complex" that they have deterred clinicians from getting involved in treating addiction, despite the escalating need. (Cohen, 9/26)

In Georgia and Missouri —

Georgia Health News: Vidalia Hospital May Join HCA Healthcare Chain

National hospital chain HCA Healthcare has signed a letter of intent with a Vidalia hospital to discuss a possible combination of the two organizations. The agreement, announced this week, could lead Meadows Regional Medical Center in Vidalia to become the Tennessee-based company’s 10th hospital in Georgia. (Miller, 9/26)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Despite Legal Fight With St. Louis, Paul McKee Wants TIF Money For Health Care Facility

Though they're on the outs with City Hall, developer Paul McKee and his associates are still hoping the St. Louis Board of Aldermen will approve $6.42 million in subsidies for a three-bed health care facility across the street from the future western headquarters of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The project, called Healthworks, has been on the drawing board for years, with aldermen approving an ordinance allowing the $6.42 million in tax increment financing, or TIF, assistance in early 2017. TIF funds allow new taxes generated from a development to be reinvested into the project. (Barker, 9/27)

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