Category: Modern Healthcare

Drug cost concerns feed into docs’ aversion to risk in pay models

Physicians aren’t buying into CMS and private pay models that make them take on downside risk. A key reason? They’re accountable for costs that they can’t control.

Medicaid expansion on the prairie: Nebraska’s ballot initiative heads to the polls

Four years into Obamacare, the majority of Nebraska voters support Medicaid expansion, a key measure on their midterm ballot. But even pro-expansion hospitals are taking a cautious view of how much it will impact the rural bottom line.

Trump signs bipartisan measure to confront opioid crisis

President Donald Trump pledged to put an “extremely big dent” in the scourge of drug addiction in America as he signed legislation intended to help tackle the opioid crisis, the deadliest epidemic of overdoses in the country’s history.

Commentary: To be an employer of choice, you need a diversity and inclusion strategy

A multiyear plan to expand diversity and inclusion is as essential a business priority as implementing financial controls and managing quality improvement. A successful program requires transparency, data and shared accountability.

US approves first new type of flu drug in 2 decades

The FDA’s approval of Xofluza for people age 12 and older comes ahead of the brunt of this winter’s flu season. Xofluza is a pill that can reduce severity and shorten duration of flu symptoms after one just dose.

CMS posts new SNF quality measures on Nursing Home Compare

Five new quality measures have been added to Nursing Home Compare as mandated by the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014.

Emergency docs say Iowa Medicaid change hurts patients, hospitals

Starting Aug. 1, Iowa Medicaid no longer allowed emergency departments to submit claims for treating some conditions that turn out to be non-emergent.

UChicago, Advocate and NorthShore partner on pediatrics

The new clinical collaboration—effective immediately—will enhance education and training for healthcare professionals, and also improve access to care and innovative therapies for young patients.

Nearly half of hospices surveyed might not survive a federal audit

Forty-six percent of hospices surveyed said they aren’t confident that they could sustain the financial impact of a federal audit, primarily due to poor clinical documentation management.

HHS warns providers won’t settle Medicare appeals if judge imposes deadline

While HHS has cut its appeals backlog by nearly a third in the last year, forcing it to decide hundreds of thousands of appeals by a certain date would be dangerous, the agency told a federal judge.