Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Home Health Agency Workers Get Extra Time To Prepare For New CMS Regulation
Modern Healthcare: CMS Delays Rule To Improve Home Health Agency Care
Home health agencies are getting an additional six months to prepare for a new CMS rule aimed at improving quality and patient care. The rule, first proposed by the Obama administration, required new training for staff and administrators and more coordination of care. Industry stakeholders asked the CMS for more time to comply with the rule. The CMS responded by delaying the original effective date from July 13 to Jan. 13, 2018. (Dickson, 7/10)
Modern Healthcare: GAO Finds Value-Based Purchasing Program Rewards Lower-Quality Hospitals
The U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the CMS' Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program provided bonuses for some lower-quality hospitals. The program, which gives Medicare bonus payments to hospitals that reach efficiency and quality benchmarks while decreasing payments for lower performing hospitals, creates incentives for about 3,000 participating hospitals as part of the Affordable Care Act. The GAO found that about 20% of the hospitals that received value-based bonuses between 2015 and 2017 had less than average quality scores. (Kacik, 7/11)
