Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Federal Officials Launch 'Patient Over Paperwork' Initiative To Hear Doctors' Concerns About Rules
Modern Healthcare: CMS Wants Docs To Spend More Time On Patients, Less On Paperwork
The CMS launched an initiative Thursday to help it determine what provider regulations it should junk or revamp, citing growing concerns that its regulations are reducing the time providers spend with patients. As part of the Patient over Paperwork initiative, CMS officials will travel the country to gather information on the impact their regulations have on physicians. Those conversations have been taking place informally for weeks. The outreach effort comes at a time that primary-care physicians are spending 27% of their time on clinical activities and 49% on administrative activities, according to a 2016 Annals of Internal Medicine study. (Dickson, 10/26)
Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Warm Up To CMS Bundled Payments As Agency Cools Off On Them
Jon Fohrer was not at all happy last year that the CMS required all hospitals in the Indianapolis market to participate in its bundled-payment program for total hip and knee replacement procedures on Medicare patients. The five-year demonstration, launched by the CMS Innovation Center in 2016 to speed the shift to value-based payment, was controversial among hospital leaders and surgeons because it was mandatory for all hospitals in 67 markets across the country. ... That was then. Fohrer's attitude, like the views of other hospital leaders about the CJR program, has changed dramatically since. New CMS data shows that many hospitals have succeeded in meeting the program's challenging requirements and have received financial rewards. (Meyer, 10/26)
Modern Healthcare: CMS Experiment Saves Millions, Decreases Hospital Visits
The CMS has seen a drop in avoidable hospitalizations of seniors and generated nearly $50 million in savings from an experiment that aimed to keep nursing home residents out of inpatient care. The agency recently touted the results of its three-year Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among Nursing Facility Residents, which saw a 17% relative reduction in potentially avoidable hospitalizations in participating facilities. (Dickson, 10/26)
