Study: Hospice Rules May Keep Away Patients
Nearly four out of five hospices have enrollment policies that keep away patients with potentially high-cost medical needs, such as palliative chemotherapy and intravenous feeding tubes, according to a new study. Hospice is one of the fastest growing segments of Medicare, and many health policy experts laud it as a humane and cheaper way to […]
Hospitals Get New Grades On Safety
Updated at 9:35 a.m. The Leapfrog Group is out with its second round of hospital safety ratings, and what a difference a few months has made. In the results released Wednesday, 103 hospitals that Leapfrog had given a “C” or lower in its first round of ratings in June got an “A” in the updated Hospital […]
Hospitals Offer Wide Array Of Services To Keep Patients From Needing To Return
Free scales, diet tips and home visits from nurses all aim to curtail readmissions.
Effort To Curb Medicare Spending Begins With Crackdown On Hospital Readmissions
The 2010 federal health law calls for penalties for hospitals with high rates of readmissions as the government seeks to trim spending in the the health program for the elderly and disabled.
Administration Expected to Release Many New Rules For Health Law Shortly
Among the highly anticipated announcements are regulations on the new state insurance exchanges, taxes for medical devices, funding for hospitals treating the uninsured and insurance coverage for contraception.
Health Law Was A Wash In The Election, Poll Finds
After two years of noise and stridency on the 2010 health care law, the Affordable Care Act ended up being a wash in the presidential election, a new poll finds. Both President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney ended up getting equal support among voters who said the law was a “major factor” in their vote for president, […]
Study Finds Depression Is A Leading Risk For Higher Health Spending
Depression was the most costly among 10 common risk factors linked to higher health spending for employees, according to a new study of seven companies. The study published in Health Affairs found that the 10 factors — which also included obesity, high blood sugar and high blood pressure — were associated with nearly a quarter […]
Medicare Excludes Mid-Sized Physician Groups From Start Of New Payment System
Medicare is sparing 5,300 mid-sized physicians groups from the first phase of the government’s effort to pay doctors based on the quality of care. Medicare had originally planned to apply the “value-based payment modifier” to medical groups of 25 or more professionals, starting in January 2015 but based on physician performance during 2013. Doctors that […]
Revised Medicare Penalties Hit Some States Hard
Medicare’s readmissions penalties are falling hardest on hospitals in New Jersey, New York, Arkansas, Mississippi and the District of Columbia, a Kaiser Health News analysis of updated government data shows. Medicare revised its penalties from the new Readmissions Reduction Program at the end of September after discovering it had made small errors in its calculations […]
Study Finds Premium Support Plan Could Raise Medicare Premiums In Many Parts of Country
Seniors in both traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans would be affected by the change, according to research that looks at how a voucher system would have worked in 2010.
Revealing Angioplasty Outcomes Didn’t Improve Patient Mortality: Study
In the 23 years since New York State began publishing hospital death rates of coronary artery-bypass graft patients, the number of publicly reported outcome measures has proliferated. There are now 258 public reports on health care quality available around the country, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Researchers are still studying what impact this […]
Medicare Revises Hospitals’ Readmissions Penalties
Federal officials made small errors in calculating how much hospitals will be docked for having too many patients return within 30 days. Many hospitals will lose a bit more money under revised calculations.
Medicare’s Pay For Performance Effort Begins, Targeting Quality and Readmissions
Monday is the start of the federal fiscal year, and with it begins Medicare’s biggest effort yet at paying for performance. Starting Oct. 1, Medicare is withholding 1 percent of its regular hospital reimbursements in the new Value-Based Purchasing Program, which was created by the 2010 health care law. Over the course of the year, […]
Poll: Younger Americans More Receptive Than Seniors To GOP Medicare Plan
Among those under 55, a majority want to keep the current program, but 44 percent prefer switching to premium support
Joint Commission Praises 620 Hospitals For Quality
Updated at 1:10 p.m. on Sept. 20. The Joint Commission, the nation’s major hospital accreditation board, is releasing its annual list of hospitals that have excelled at adhering to basic procedures for treating common illnesses such as heart attacks and strokes. The commission is recognizing 620 hospitals — 18 percent of those it accredits — as “top […]
Hospital Readmission Rates Dropping Slightly, New Study Finds
A new government analysis has found that hospital readmission rates of Medicare patients have fallen more than previously reported, bolstering hope that hospitals are having some success at tackling this stubborn and expensive problem. Hospital readmissions have been getting extensive attention as a new penalty program kicks in next month, which will cost hospitals as […]
Are Medicare’s New Quality Incentives Large Enough To Change Hospital Behavior?
In October, hospitals stand to gain or lose as much as 1 percent of reimbursements. But experts say most will break even.
New Hospital Safety Effort To Link ICU Machines
Peter Pronovost’s reputation as a health care safety maven was built on his success in getting doctors and nurses to think more systematically about avoiding hospital infections from catheters by using checklists. Now Pronovost is trying to see if the machines in hospital intensive care units can be taught to communicate with each other to […]
Hospitals Tally Likely Costs From New Readmissions Penalties
Across the country, hospitals are estimating how much money they are going to forfeit when Medicare’s new penalties for excess readmissions kick in. Hospitals are also issuing divergent verdicts on whether they think the program is a good idea or not. Starting in October, 2,211 hospitals will lose a portion of their regular Medicare reimbursements […]
Medicare To Penalize 2,217 Hospitals For Excess Readmissions
Too many patients are returning to the hospital soon after being discharged, a costly problem the government is tackling.
