Hospitals can submit their stories of kindness in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic by May 31 to be featured in Reader’s Digest’s Nicest Places in America 2020. The publication is searching for inspiring stories in an effort to demonstrate how Americans come together in kindness to overcome crisis, ease suffering and save lives. Apply here and learn
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released early stakeholder insights from its Accountable Health Communities Model. The model tests whether systematically identifying and addressing Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries’ health-related social needs through screening, referral and community navigation services will impact health care costs and reduce health care utilization.
Dive Brief: CommonSpirit Health, sprung from last year’s merger of California-based Dignity Health and Colorado-based Catholic Health Initiatives, reported a loss topping $1.4 billion in the fiscal third quarter ending March 31, although adjusted revenues were flat compared to the third quarter of 2019. The biggest proportion of losses were tied to investments, as its
Dive Brief: As the COVID-19 pandemic forced providers across the United States to defer many elective procedures, the number of patients who sought out hospital care declined by an average of more than 50%, according to data from hospital software company Strata Decision Technology. Even service lines involving what are often life-threatening illnesses saw large
Dive Brief: Prior to the onset of the novel coronavirus, Mayo Clinic was cruising along with a healthy operating margin of 6.7% during the first two months of the quarter. But by the close of the period, the operating margin was squeezed to just 0.9% while net operating income fell off a cliff, free falling
Health care systems face difficult challenges in their effort to provide safe and effective care not just for COVID-19 patients, but all patients living with serious illness. In this podcast, Marie Cleary-Fishman, vice president of clinical quality at AHA, is joined by Diane Meier, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care at Mt. Sinai
Dive Brief: The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the nation’s second-largest private insurer, Anthem, for allegedly failing to correct inaccurate diagnosis codes related to its Medicare Advantage business and receiving millions in improper payments from CMS. DOJ claims Anthem put its profits ahead of compliance and knowingly failed to update the accurate
Dive Brief: The HHS Office of Civil Rights said Thursday it is partially suspending its enforcement of HIPAA in a move to free up the information flow and coordinate the public and private sectors’ response to the novel coronavirus outbreak. OCR said it would use its discretion to not enforce the law against what it
Dive Brief: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CMS late Thursday announced relaxation of a variety of guidelines regulating the way, physicians, nurse practitioners and occupational therapists can do their jobs, expanding earlier easing to let clinicians practice at the top of their licenses and across state lines, including for telehealth. The relaxation is aimed
Dive Brief: The American Hospital Association is lobbying HHS to change the funding formula of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, known as the CARES Act, in order for its members to better cope with the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. AHA has asked for a more expedited release of CARES funds, but also
Dive Brief: Disproportionate share hospitals’ payments are likely to be lowered after a federal appeal court ruled this week that the payment rule for calculating them can include Medicare and commercial insurance payments. Hospitals had argued the 2017 rule should only use Medicaid and uninsured patient payments toward the DSH cap, and sued HHS over the calculation.
Dive Brief: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of commercial health insurers arguing they are owed $12 billion under the Affordable Care Act’s risk corridor program. The 8-1 decision, with only Justice Samuel Alito dissenting, found that the ACA “established a money-mandating obligation, that Congress did not repeal this obligation” and later
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, unveiled a top-level view of his healthcare plan in July to criticism from progressives and conservatives alike, with the far-left slamming it as not covering enough Americans and Republicans calling it merely a stepping stone to “Medicare for All” — and that’s before the candidate said he supported lowering
Dive Brief: If commercial payers reimbursed at the same rate as Medicare, average hospital revenue would fall roughly 35%, though it would vary widely by state, according to a new pricing study published in Health Affairs. Harvard Medical School researchers found private health insurers reimbursed for inpatient and outpatient facility services roughly double what Medicare