MHA's Executive Briefing

CMS issues rule for state Medicaid community-based services option

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Jan. 10 issued a final rule amending federal Medicaid regulations to define and describe the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s optional state plan benefit to furnish Home and Community-Based Services and draw federal matching funds. The rule also provides for a five-year duration for certain demonstration projects or waivers when they provide medical assistance for individuals dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare benefits; includes payment reassignment provisions because state Medicaid programs often operate as the primary or only payer for the class of practitioners that includes HCBS providers; and amends Medicaid regulations to provide home and community-based setting requirements related to the ACA’s Community First Choice State plan option.

[ via AHA News Now ]

Health care sees rare drop in hiring growth

The sluggish 2013 growth in health care employment—which dipped below the annual average of the past 23 years—underscores financial pressure on hospitals to reduce costs by directing care to less-expensive outpatient facilities. Though the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures are not yet final and may change significantly, the numbers show health care added 271,000 jobs last year to bring the industry's total to 14.57 million. That was about 2% below the annual average since 1990.

Read more from Melanie Evans in Modern Healthcare here.

HFMA Tri-State Winter Institute set for January 22-24

HFMA's Tri-State Winter Institute is set for January 22-24 at the Gold Strike Hotel & Casino in Tunica. Register online here. For more information, contact Tami Hill, Event Coordinator, at hfmatristate@yahoo.com or 501.316.1229.

Deadline for comments on draft revisions to NPDB guidebook extended

The Health Resources and Services Administration recently extended through Jan. 31 the deadline for submitting comments on draft revisions to the National Practitioner Data Bank guidebook. The original deadline was Jan. 10.

According to the agency, the revised guidebook incorporates legislative and regulatory changes since the 2001 edition, including the merger of the NPDB with the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank; improved examples and tables explaining data bank policies and requirements; and live links to cited statutes and regulations. To receive an electronic copy of the draft revised guidebook, email the Division of Practitioner Data Banks at NPDBPolicy@hrsa.gov. Comments should be submitted to the same email address.

AHA urges Congress to extend Medicare rural, outpatient therapy provisions

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on January 9 held a hearing to examine how expiring Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program and human services provisions should continue under a permanent repeal of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate formula for physicians. The Bipartisan Budget Act, enacted by Congress last month, temporarily averted a 20.1% payment cut effective Jan. 1 under the SGR formula by increasing Medicare payment for physicians under the Physician Fee Schedule by 0.5% through March. The legislation also extended through March several AHA-supported Medicare provisions to ensure access to services for patients in rural areas: the adjustment for low-volume hospitals; Medicare-Dependent Hospital program; add-on payments for rural ambulance providers; and the exceptions process for outpatient therapy caps.

“Over the years, Congress has enacted several provisions to address the special challenges rural hospitals encounter in delivering health care services to the communities they are committed to serving,” the American Hospital Association said in a statement submitted to the subcommittee. “The AHA urges the Committee to recognize that the circumstances that necessitated these provisions continue to exist; therefore, it is appropriate that they be extended.”

8 Things to Know About CMS' Emergency Preparedness Rule

Late last month, CMS proposed a rule on emergency preparedness planning for all providers and suppliers that accept Medicare and Medicaid funds. CMS praised hospital emergency preparedness operations plans, saying they have improved "significantly" since 2002 thanks to active senior leadership and sustained attention through hospital-based disaster coordinators. However, CMS wanted to establish new guidance because the agency believed the current emergency preparedness requirements for health care facilities were "not comprehensive enough to address the complexities of actual emergencies."

Here are eight of the main highlights.

Where HIT fits on hospital exec watch list for 2014

It’s hardly a surprise that about half of the items on ECRI’s list of priorities for CIOs are IT-related. But some of those items might actually raise a curious eyebrow or two.

Not on the list are traditional information technologies like databases and big iron. Instead, one finds robots, the NanoKnife, a little bit of magic and a whole lot of data.

Here are the IT parts of ECRI’s list.

Why & When Insured Patients Visit the Emergency Department: 12 Findings

A study has found most insured people are motivated by a sense of urgency — not a preference for convenience — to visit a hospital emergency department for care. The findings are based on the 2012 Autoworker Health Care Survey, funded by the Center for Studying Health System Change and the nonpartisan National Institute for Health Care Reform. The survey of 8,836 active and retired nonelderly autoworkers and their spouses was conducted to learn how people decide to go to the ED.

10 Trends for Hospital, Health System Governance in 2014

A new report projects 10 governance trends for nonprofit hospitals and health systems in 2014. The report was prepared by Michael Peregrine, JD, partner with McDermott Will & Emery in Chicago.

Momentum for telemedicine continues to build

Parity laws mandating private coverage for telemedicine went into effect in two states: Missouri and Montana. Similar legislation went into effect last fall in the District of Columbia and last summer in Mississippi and New Mexico and is scheduled to go into effect a year from now in Arizona.

Read more from Dan Bowman for FierceHealth IT here.