Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Dozens Of Georgia Hospitals Hit With Medicare Readmission Penalties
Georgia Health News: Readmission Penalties For Medicare Patients Hitting Dozens Of Georgia Hospitals
A Medicare initiative aimed at reducing readmissions of discharged patients is penalizing 88 percent of Georgia hospitals evaluated in the program. That’s a slightly higher percentage than the national average of 83 percent of hospitals penalized in the readmission program. (Miller, 10/9)
The CT Mirror: 26 Hospitals Penalized By Medicare For High Readmission Rates
Most Connecticut hospitals will lose a percentage of their Medicare reimbursement payments over the next year as penalties for having high rates of readmitted patients, according to new data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Statewide, 26 of the 29 hospitals evaluated – 90 percent – will have their reimbursements reduced, by varying amounts, in the 2020 fiscal year that began Oct. 1, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of data from CMS. (Rosner, 10/9)
The Associated Press: 9 Montana Hospitals To See Reduced Medicare Payments
Medicare is reducing payments to nine Montana hospitals under a program that penalizes costly readmissions within a month of treatment for heart and lung diseases as well as knee and hip replacement surgery. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program evaluated 14 Montana hospitals and will reduce Medicare payments by a small percentage for nine of them for a year, starting Oct. 1. (10/7)
WUSF: Five Florida Hospitals Face Maximum Medicare Readmission Rate Penalty
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will penalize 2,583 hospitals for having too many Medicare patients readmitted within 30 days, according to federal data analyzed by Kaiser Health News. Five Florida hospitals will get the maximum penalty of a 3% cut to reimbursement rates. The minimum is 0.01%. (Miller, 10/7)
Pittsburgh Business Times: Pittsburgh Region Hospitals Getting Medicare Penalties For 2020
A number of hospitals in western Pennsylvania will receive a reduction in Medicare reimbursement payments due to higher-than-average readmission rates. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as of Oct. 1 is reducing Medicare payments to 127 hospitals in Pennsylvania for the rate of patients that are back in the hospital within a month of discharge, according to CMS data analyzed by Kaiser Health News. Just about every hospital in Pennsylvania received some kind of percentage off their Medicare reimbursements, ranging from 0.01 percent to 3 percent. (Gough, 10/7)
Meanwhile, in other news on hospitals and health systems —
The Associated Press: California Hospital Chain Going To Court Over High Prices
One of California's largest hospital systems is facing a trial over accusations that it has used its market dominance to snuff out competition and overcharge patients for medical bills. Opening arguments begin Thursday in the antitrust case against Sutter Health, which operates 24 hospitals with 5,500 doctors across Northern California. It was first brought by employers and unions amid growing frustration over the rising cost of health care in 2014; California's attorney general, Xavier Becerra, filed a similar suit last year following a six-year DOJ investigation. (Gecker, 10/10)
The Associated Press: Virginia County Without Any Hospital May Get 1 Next Year
A health care system official says work is under way to reopen a southwest Virginia county’s only hospital. The Roanoke Times reports Ballad Health Chief Administrative Officer Marvin Eichorn said earlier this week that the Lee County hospital will reopen next fall. Eichorn says renovations are continuing to bring the building in Pennington Gap up to code. He also says paperwork will be filed soon to gain billing approval. (10/10)
Columbus Dispatch: Senate Passes Bill To Allow Patients To Learn Hospital Costs In Advance
Ohioans would be able to learn the bottom-line cost of their scheduled hospital care — and their out-of-pocket share of the bill — in advance under a bill passed unanimously by the Ohio Senate on Wednesday. Senate Bill 97, sponsored by Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, would require hospitals to provide a “reasonable, good faith” cost estimate, or price range, of scheduled services at the advance request of patients beginning July 1, 2021. (Ludlow, 10/9)
Kaiser Health News: VCU Health Will Halt Patient Lawsuits, Boost Aid In Wake Of KHN Investigation
VCU Health, the major Richmond medical system that includes the state’s largest teaching hospital, said it will no longer file lawsuits against its patients, ending a practice that has affected tens of thousands of people over the years. VCU’s in-house physician group filed more than 56,000 lawsuits against patients for $81 million over the seven years ending in 2018, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of district court data. (Hancock and Lucas, 10/9)
The Associated Press: DC Psychiatric Hospital To Go Another Week Without Water
Officials say a public psychiatric hospital in the nation’s capital may go another week without drinking water. The district’s deputy mayor for health and human services, Wayne Turnage, tells The Washington Post that St. Elizabeths Hospital’s water service may not be restored until late next week. Repairs were expected to finish this Friday. (10/9)
Modern Healthcare: Fairview Partnership Officially Launches M Health Fairview Brand
Fairview Health Services has officially become M Health Fairview, the academic health system announced Wednesday. Minneapolis-based M Health Fairview is a joint clinical agreement between Fairview, the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Physicians announced in September 2018 that took effect Jan. 1. Wednesday's announcement marks more than a rebranding, but the acceleration of efforts to reorganize how care is delivered systemwide. (Bannow, 10/9)
