Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Study: Readmissions Penalties Felt Most By Hospitals Treating Sickest, Poorest Patients
The Hill: Study: ObamaCare Could Penalize Hospitals With Poor Patients
An ObamaCare program could be penalizing certain hospitals for serving more poor patients, according to a study released Monday. The study focuses on an ObamaCare program that docks a hospital’s Medicare payments if its readmission rate is above a certain level. The program is meant to provide a financial incentive for hospitals to improve the quality of care and cut down on costly readmissions, in which a patient must return to the hospital after a procedure. (Sullivan, 9/15)
The Washington Post: Medicare Unfairly Penalizes Hospitals Treating Sickest, Poorest Patients, Study Finds
Researchers at Harvard Medical School found that hospitals are being penalized to a large extent based on the patients they serve. The researchers found that nearly two dozen variables, such as patients’ education, income and ability to bathe, dress and feed themselves, explain nearly half of the difference in readmission rates between the best- and worst-performing hospitals. The worst performing hospitals, for example, have 50 percent more patients with less than a high school education than the best performers, according to the study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Sun, 9/14)
In other other quality and payment news -
Modern Healthcare: Defective Rewards: How Design Flaws Have Hobbled Medicare's Incentive Programs
The CMS, private payers, policymakers and provider systems are placing heavy reliance on using financial incentives to change provider behavior to improve quality of care and reduce costs. In January, Obama administration officials said the CMS would significantly expand use of financial incentives in the next three years. Half of what the traditional Medicare program spends will be tied to rewards for quality and cost control by 2018. That will mean continued growth of accountable care and bundled-payment contracts. ... But researchers say much depends on properly structuring the incentive programs to achieve the desired results. Public policy inside and outside healthcare is strewn with incentive programs that have fallen short of producing the desired results. The consequences of poorly designed incentives can be higher spending and lower quality care. (Evans, 9/12)
Modern Healthcare: Hip And Knee Bundled Payment Test Could Be DOA Without Major Changes
Providers say a CMS model to have 800 U.S. hospitals participate in a test of bundled payments for hip and knee replacements would have to be changed significantly in order to succeed. The five-year program would begin Jan. 1. Nearly 300 comments on the proposal were received before the deadline last week. A leading concern was that it was mandatory, which groups said would prevent providers from tailoring care to their patient population and could result in less accurate payments. (Dickson, 9/11)
