National Hospital Survey Shares Insight into CMS’s Price Transparency Requirement
Hospitals expressed uncertainty about the usefulness of information supplied in response to CMS’s IPPS transparency requirements, but also recognize that the rule amplifies healthcare industry efforts to provide meaningful price estimates for healthcare services.
340B Ruling: Good News for Some, Maybe
340B-eligible facilities are unsure of the fate of the 340B discount drug program as they await a U.S. District Court ruling on remedies that could further alter payments.
Ask the Experts: Behavioral Health Billing
We want to offer an intensive outpatient program (IOP) that provides group psychotherapy to patients who require a higher intensity of treatment than our outpatient setting provides. We need a thorough understanding of the billing process for the state of
74 Medicare ACOs Depart: Analysts
Feb. 19—By the end of 2018, 74 of Medicare’s accountable care organizations (ACOs) departed the program, according to new analyses.
Model Targets Hundreds of Millions in Medicare ED Spending
Feb. 18—Heralded as part of a shift in care to lower-cost locations, a new Medicare model coming early next year will incentivize paramedics to find alternative treatment sites to emergency departments (EDs).
Annual Hospital Costs for Opioid Overdose Patients Approaches $2 Billion
The average cost for an overdose patient who was treated and released totaled $504, but the average cost rose to $11,731 for those that were treated and admitted to a hospital.
Feb 18-22: Most New ACOs to Face Higher Risk, Analyses Say
Feb. 14—Most organizations applying by next week to launch accountable care organizations this summer may be required to take on higher levels of financial risk, according to two analyses.
Preventable ED Use Costs $8.3 Billion Annually: Analysis
Feb. 8—An estimated $8.3 billion is spent each year on emergency department (ED) care that could be provided in another location, according to a new analysis.
Data Sharing Tips for Value-Based Payment Arrangements
Value-based contracts require that provider organizations and health plans share data and information that they may not have shared historically. Details about that data-sharing must be established in contracts.
The Time Is Now to Act on the 2019 Medicare Final OPPS Rule
Although some OPPS rule changes are being challenged by key stakeholders, hospitals and health systems should move forward with implementation and measure the financial impact.