Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Financial Challenges Top Hospital Leaders' Main Concerns From 2018
Modern Healthcare: Ballooning Costs, Government Mandates Were Hospitals' Biggest Challenges In 2018
Financial challenges, government mandates, patient safety and quality and personnel shortages topped hospital executives' concerns in 2018, according to an annual survey from the American College of Healthcare Executives. The top four spots have stayed the same since at least 2015. This year's respondents were directed to rank 11 challenges in order of how pressing they are. A new category, behavioral health and addiction issues, ranked fourth on the list. Within that category, 82% of respondents cited access to counseling as an area of concern, according to ACHE CEO Deborah Bowen. (Bannow, 1/17)
In other hospital news —
Modern Healthcare: MedPAC Recommends Consolidating Medicare Quality Programs
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission on Thursday recommended that Congress pass legislation to consolidate most of Medicare's value-based quality programs and boost payments for high-performing hospitals. The panel voted unanimously to recommend Congress place the hospital quality initiatives into one program called the Hospital Value Incentive Program (HVIP), which would link Medicare payments to the quality of care hospitals provide. The new incentive program would consolidate the existing programs to dispel confusion and overlapping requirements. (King, 1/17)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hospitals Still Use Ambulance Diversion Policy That Can Have 'Horrifying' Results
In 2009, Massachusetts became the first and only state to ban ambulance diversions. Since then, other areas have moved to eliminate the practice, but ambulance diversion still occurs in most of the nation’s largest cities, a review by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found. Two-thirds of the largest 25 cities allow diversion or practices similar to it, including nine of the top 10. (Diedrich, 1/17)
