Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
HHS Needs to Do More on Physician Training
The federal government needs to do more to ensure an adequate supply of primary care physicians and their deployment in non-urban areas outside of the northeastern U.S. Or so concludes a new study performed by the U.S. Governor Accountability Office. According to the GAO report, efforts by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have resulted in progress toward meeting both of these goals – but not enough progress. With the federal government spending $15 billion on graduate medical education, GAO believes, HHS can and should do more to [...]
Elderly Patients Return to Hospitals After Observation Stay
More than one in five Medicare patients who have observation stays in the hospital return to that hospital within 30 days, according to a new study published in The BMJ. Among those returning to the hospital, 8.4 percent return to the emergency room, 2.9 percent have another observation stay visit, and 11.2 percent are admitted to the hospital. Another 1.8 percent pass away within 30 days. The numbers are similar for Medicare patients who only visit the emergency room. Learn more about the study’s findings and its implications for improving [...]
MedPAC to CMS: Speed Up Move to New Post-Acute Payment System
Medicare should adopt a unified system for post-acute-care payments even earlier than its target date of 2024. Or so the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission told Congress. MedPAC’s idea? Implement such a system by 2021 and phase it in over a three-year transition period, the agency said in its annual report and recommendations to Congress Learn more about what MedPAC recommended and why it recommended it in this McKnight’s Long-Term Care News article. Find MedPAC’s annual report to Congress here.
MedPAC Delivers Annual Report to Congress
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has issued its annual report and recommendations to Congress. The major issues addressed in the report include: implementing a unified payment system for post-acute care reforming Medicare payment for drugs under Part B redesigning the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) and strengthening advanced alternative payment models using premium support for Medicare the relationship between clinician services and other Medicare services payments from drug and device manufacturers to physicians and teaching hospitals in 2015 the medical device industry stand-alone emergency departments hospital and skilled nursing facility [...]
States Lag in Reducing Nursing Home Utilization
States are not making adequate progress toward keeping seniors and the disabled out of nursing homes by making greater use of home and community-based services. Or so concludes a new study from AARP. According to the study, only nine states and Washington, D.C. spend more on home and community-based services and long-term services and supports than on nursing homes. Minnesota leads the nation, spending 69 percent of its long-term-care money on home and community-based services. Other leaders include Washington state (65 percent), New Mexico (64 percent), and Alaska (63 percent). [...]