Changing News Archive - June, 2010

New proposals from hospitals were offered overnight, as 12,000 nurses prepared for a Tuesday strike. Doctors are working to reassure patients.

With a week to go before Twin Cities nurses could walk off the job in a massive strike, doctors are rescheduling surgeries, patients are reworking their calendars and everyone in the health care community is studying the lessons of previous nursing strikes.

Intelligent use of electronic health records—even those collected from multiple health systems—can alert providers to harmful medical practices.

That's how Kaiser Permanente's analysis of 459,000 pediatric health records revealed that young children who received the combo MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella, varicella) vaccine experienced twice the rate of febrile seizures as did children who received two separate shots—one for measles, mumps, rubella and the other just for varicella.

"This study shows the tremendous power of electronic medical records to improve vaccine safety monitoring," says Nicola P. Klein, MD, co-director of the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center.

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took another important step to help improve the health status of Medicare beneficiaries.  The proposed regulation will implement the new preventive health benefits created under the Affordable Care Act for the seniors and persons with disabilities who rely on Medicare for their health care coverage.

The new rule proposes to make two significant improvements to preventive care benefits under Medicare:  Beginning January 1, 2011, Medicare will cover annual wellness visits so that doctors and patients can develop a personalized prevention plan that takes a comprehensive approach to improving the patient’s health.  Also beginning January 1, 2011, Medicare beneficiaries will no longer have to pay any out-of-pocket costs for most preventive services – including that annual wellness visit.

To help make sure that Medicare beneficiaries have access to primary care doctors, the rule would also boost payments for primary care services.  The proposed regulation would also increase access to services by creating payment incentives for general surgeons as well as expand access to other types of health care providers.

LAS VEGAS – While there is much talk of the potential stress hospitals may face over healthcare reform, one expert at the Healthcare Financial Management Association's ANI conference in Las Vegas this week, said getting back to financial basics will help a hospital weather changes ahead.

In a Tuesday session on how community health systems can ensure the affordability of their hospitals' strategies, Jason Sussman, CPA and a partner at Kaufman, Hall and Associates conceded, "there is a lot of doom and gloom out there on healthcare reform. We don't know 90 percent of the answers."

"Current industry stresses require rigorous, comprehensive financial planning," he said. "There can't be any more shooting from the hip. Hospitals will need real, analytical work just like they'd look for in a fortune 500 company."

WASHINGTON — President Obama, whose vilification of insurers helped push a landmark health care overhaul through Congress, plans to sternly warn industry executives at a White House meeting on Tuesday against imposing hefty rate increases in anticipation of tightening regulation under the new law, administration officials said Monday.

The White House is concerned that health insurers will blame the new law for increases in premiums that are intended to maximize profits rather than covering claims. The administration is also closely watching investigations by a number of states into the actuarial soundness of double-digit rate increases.

The Joint Commission has announced that its long-time president and chief executive of Joint Commission Resources and Joint Commission International will be leaving the position on July 1, 2010.

The Joint Commission has brought in Paula Wilson to act as interim head of Joint Commission Resources and Joint Commission International. Wilson previously was vice president for policy at the United Hospital Fund.

On April 15, 2010, the President issued a Presidential memorandum to HHS calling for the initiation of rulemaking that would ensure that hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid respect the rights of patients to designate visitors, regardless of whether the visitors are legally related to the patients. The President’s directive clearly instructed HHS to propose that a participating hospital not deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. In advance of this proposed rule, Secretary Sebelius sent a letter late today to leaders of major hospital associations asking them to encourage their member hospitals to not wait for the formal rulemaking process to run its course before they review their current visitation policies.

Peter W. Carmel, MD, a pediatric neurosurgeon from New York City, was named president-elect of the American Medical Association today, and will become AMA president in June 2011.

"I am honored to be elected to lead the nation's most influential physicians' organization," Carmel said in a media release. "As AMA president-elect, I pledge to serve as a strong voice and dedicated advocate for patients and physicians on the pressing issues confronting our healthcare system."

Final interim rules issued by the departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor on Monday specify when group health plans will be exempted—or "grandfathered in"—when complying with the new healthcare reform requirements.

CHICAGO – With a 21 percent Medicare physician pay cut effective June 1 and a federal temporary hold on claims ending June 14, members of the American Medical Association signed and sent white lab coats to Congress Sunday urging lawmakers to reverse the cut.

The AMA's "Write Coat Rally" was part of the organization's annual conference, held this year in Chicago.

The award recognizes healthcare CEOs who demonstrate leadership and a commitment to using information technology to advance their organizations' strategic goals.

The two recipients for 2010: David Bernd, CEO of Sentara Healthcare in Norfolk, Va., and Peter Fine, president and CEO of Banner Health in Phoenix.

A five-judge panel consisting of three CEOs chosen by Modern Healthcare and two chief information officers chosen by HIMSS selected Bernd and Fine from the pool of nominees. The judges reviewed the nominees using three criteria: 1) The CEO demonstrated leadership and commitment to using IT to advance his or her healthcare organization's strategic goals. 2) The CEO helped achieve measurable results through leadership and commitment to IT in his or her organization. 3) The CEO shared his or her healthcare organization's IT experiences to benefit peers and other members of the healthcare industry.

A key Democrat who will steer the nomination of Donald Berwick through the Senate hinted Thursday that a confirmation hearing could slip until mid-July or even later. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, lauded Berwick's credentials but said a hearing date before the Independence Day recess “would be a stretch.” 

“Don Berwick, in my judgment, is clearly qualified to be CMS director,” Baucus said, adding that the committee is waiting until all of the nominee's paperwork is completed. “We don't have it all together.”

A darling of health quality organizations and provider groups alike, Berwick nevertheless has been hit hard by Republican lawmakers who have used snippets of past speeches and articles to paint the 63-year old pediatrician as a proponent of rationed healthcare.

WASHINGTON – The Premier Healthcare Alliance bestowed 21 of the nation's top hospitals and three health systems for their commitment to outstanding patient care and operational efficiency with the 2010 Premier Award for Quality (AFQ) at an award dinner Wednesday night in Washington, DC.

Under the Senate substitute amendment to the jobs bill (HR 4213) unveiled Tuesday, physicians would get some relief from the 21% cut in Medicare and TRICARE physician reimbursements now in effect.

Using the same language found in the jobs bill passed by the House 10 days ago, physicians would see an increase in payment rates of 2.2% for the remainder of 2010 and a 1% increase in 2011. Rates would return to present law after 2011.

At a "tele-town" meeting with seniors on Tuesday, President Obama did provide some recognition of the physicians' current plight by noting that "temporarily, we've got to make sure that your doctor is getting reimbursed so that they can stay in business and keep their doors open."

"We've got to fix this permanently," Obama said. "What we shouldn't do is have this guillotine hanging over their heads every year where they're having to figure out: 'Am I am going to get reimbursed or is suddenly my income going to drop by [21%]?'"

European criticism of the World Health Organization's handling of the H1N1 pandemic intensified Friday with the release of two reports that accused the agency of exaggerating the threat posed by the virus and failing to disclose possible influence by the pharmaceutical industry on its recommendations for how countries should respond.

The WHO's response caused widespread, unnecessary fear and prompted countries around the world to waste millions of dollars, according to one report. At the same time, the Geneva-based arm of the United Nations relied on advice from experts with ties to drug makers in developing the guidelines it used to encourage countries to stockpile millions of doses of antiviral medications, according to the second report.

WASHINGTON – Medicare, private insurers and states are coming together in a government-sponsored project designed to improve primary care and reduce costs.

The Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have invited states to apply for participation in the Multi-Payer Advanced Primary Care Practice Demonstration, an initiative in which Medicare will join Medicaid and private insurers in state-based efforts.

CMS anticipates as many as six states will be included in the project.

Saint Luke's Health System in Kansas City, MO, has formalized a partnership with Cardiovascular Consultants, PA.

The new business is called Saint Luke's Cardiovascular Consultants and has 37 cardiologists who will provide services at Saint Luke's four metropolitan hospitals and outlying regional facilities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

OAKLAND, CA – As many as 13,000 registered nurses from hospitals throughout California issued a one-day strike notice Friday over patient care shortcomings at their facilities.

According to the California Nurses Association, the key sticking point is safe nurse-to-patient staffing. The CNA says the hospitals' proposals leave serious patient care issues unaddressed, including the need for safe staffing at all times, even during nurse meal and rest breaks.