Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
New Regs Seek to Improve Nursing Home Experience for Residents
New Medicare regulations should improve the quality of life of nursing home residents. The regulations, to be introduced in three phases, give residents more meal options, their choice of roommates, and improved procedures for addressing grievances. They also give residents the right to challenge discharges, expanded protection from abuse, and the promise of better, more qualified staff members to serve them. Learn more about the new regulations and how they seek to improve the quality of life for nursing home residents in this Kaiser Health News report.
Weighing the Impact of ACA Repeal
How might repeal of the Affordable Care Act affect the financial health of different kinds of hospitals? The New York Times recently took a look at how the 2010 reform law’s repeal would affect two Pennsylvania health systems: the Temple University Health System, led by a heavily Medicaid-dependent safety-net hospital located in one of the poorest communities in the country; and Main Line Health, a non-profit organization with several hospitals all located in affluent communities. See what the Times found here.
Medicare Program Reduced Readmissions
Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program has resulted in a reduction of avoidable hospital readmissions. Or so concludes a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. According to the study, which included an analysis of 15 million patient discharges beween 2000 and 2013, readmissions declined after Medicare introduced the program and the hospitals with the poorest performance prior to the program’s launch experienced the greatest improvement in reducing avoidable readmissions. To learn more, read the study “Readmission Rates After Passage of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program: A Pre–Post Analysis” [...]
Medicaid Directors Set 2017 Legislative Priorities
The National Association of Medicaid Directors has published its legislative priorities for 2017. Those 13 priorities, and the manner in which the group hopes to achieve them, are: Implement requirements for advance review of federal regulations and guidance by state Medicaid staff. Require in federal statute a distinct role for state Medicaid leaders to review the conceptual soundness and operational feasibility of federal regulations and guidance prior to finalization, which directly or indirectly impact the Medicaid program. Advance value-based reimbursement methodologies for all types of Medicaid providers. Update the tools [...]
Medicaid Directors Set Goals for First 100 Days
The National Association of Medicaid Directors has published a paper detailing its objectives for its interaction with the Trump administration during that administration’s first 100 days in office. We call upon the new Administration to convene with NAMD’s Board of Medicaid Directors to solidify specific areas for ongoing collaboration to be carried out and reflected throughout our respective agencies. The Administration should make two updates to the process for developing federal Medicaid regulations and guidance. First, build in a step for engaging states during the pre-conceptual phase of work. Second, [...]