Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Surprise! Teaching Hospitals Cost Less Than Non-Teaching Hospitals
30-day and episode-of-care costs are lower for care provided by major teaching hospitals than they are for other teaching hospitals and non-teaching hospitals. Or so concludes a new study published by JAMA Open Network. According to the study: Major teaching hospitals’ initial hospitalization costs are higher. Major teaching hospital costs are less than other hospitals after 30 days of care and over entire episodes of care. Major teaching hospitals’ costs are similar to those of other teaching hospitals and non-teaching hospitals over a 90-day episode of care. Major teaching hospitals’ [...]
CMS Seeks Help With Reducing Administrative and Regulatory Burdens
Reducing administrative and regulatory burdens is the subject of a new request for information issued last week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In the RFI, CMS explains that it is especially interested in “…innovative ideas that broaden perspectives on potential solutions to relieve burden and ways to improve” reporting and documentation requirements coding and documentation requirements for Medicare or Medicaid payment prior authorization procedures policies and requirements for rural providers, clinicians, and beneficiaries policies and requirements for dually enrolled (Medicare and Medicaid) beneficiaries beneficiary enrollment and eligibility [...]
PACE Regulation Updated
PACE programs will have new flexibility under a recent update of regulations governing Programs of All-Inclusive Care. As described by the National Association of Medicaid Directors, the new regulation Allows PACE team members to fulfill multiple roles on the care team; Allows certain non-physician providers to serve in the place of primary care physicians on the care team; Clarifies that PACE programs offering prescription drug benefits are subject to Medicare Part D regulations; Eliminates requirements for PACE organizations to seek waivers for several of the most commonly waived aspects of [...]
ACA Tied to Reduced Disparities in Cancer Care
Improved access to health insurance has led to reduced racial disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. As reported by the Washington Post, According to researchers involved in the racial-disparity study, before the ACA went into effect, African Americans with advanced cancer were 4.8 percentage points less likely to start treatment for their disease within 30 days of being given a diagnosis. But today, black adults in states that expanded Medicaid under the law have almost entirely caught up with white patients in getting timely treatment, researchers said. Another [...]
Some Readmissions From Nursing Homes to Hospitals Hard to Avoid
Improvements in the delivery of care cannot prevent some skilled nursing facility patients from being readmitted to hospitals, a new study has concluded. According to the study, when advanced practice nurses brought best practices to 16 nursing homes participating in a Medicare pilot program, they enjoyed considerable success reducing hospital readmissions but found themselves unable to stop some, including readmissions caused by residents or their families calling ambulances on their own; patients refusing treatment and then demanding hospitalization because of the effects of the denied treatment; and patients in hospice [...]