Healthcare disruptor Glen Tullman says providers need more of a consumer-centric approach
One of the country’s most prominent healthcare entrepreneurs has a warning for legacy healthcare stakeholders. “Many of you in the audience are leading major health systems, and you’re the hub for healthcare today,” Glen Tullman said during a presentation at the HIMSS Global Health Conference and Exhibition, which took place the week of April 17…
Hospitals are facing a long slog to return to pre-pandemic normalcy, panelists say
The logjam of patients who cannot be seen expeditiously at hospitals is becoming an entrenched problem with no imminent solutions, a CMS leader said this week. “The data tells us healthcare services, particularly for the Medicare population, have not come back to pre-pandemic levels,” said Jonathan Blum, principal deputy administrator and COO with CMS. “We’re…
FY 2024 Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule Summary
HFMA presents a detailed summary of the fiscal year (FY) 2024 Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Prospective Payment System proposed rule, published in the April 10, 2023, Federal Register.
FY 2024 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update Proposed Rule Summary
HFMA presents a detailed summary of the proposed rule updating the Medicare hospice payment rates, wage index, the cap amount, and the quality reporting requirements for federal fiscal year (FY) 2024.
Healthcare News of Note: What can be done to correct data disparities in women’s health?
The prevalence of women’s health conditions is roughly five times that of their documented diagnoses, which means for every woman diagnosed with a women’s health condition, roughly four go undiagnosed. The 2023 emergency medicine Match will see 555 initially unmatched positions, affecting a larger number of residency programs than in 2022, when 219 unmatched positions…
State of Medicare: Some good news on program solvency still leaves questions and challenges
Medicare should remain solvent a little bit longer than previously anticipated, while a policy debate is ramping up over how to make the program sustainable for the long term. The 2023 annual report of the Medicare Boards of Trustees projects that the Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund, which subsidizes Part A services, essentially will be…
David Johnson: Academic medicine, where privilege compounds dysfunction
Academic medicine combines healthcare with higher education, the two U.S. economic sectors that have exhibited outsized cost growth over the past 50 years. The result is a stunning disconnection between academic medical center (AMC) business practices and the supply-demand dynamics reshaping healthcare delivery. Market, technological and regulatory forces are pushing the healthcare industry to deliver…
Medicare’s proposed FY24 update to inpatient payments falls short, hospitals say
Hospitals are less than pleased with Medicare’s proposed FY24 payment update for inpatient care. In proposed regulations, the net inpatient payment update is 2.8% after factoring in a mandatory productivity adjustment of -0.2 percentage points. As usual, the update would be reduced for any hospital that does not fulfill quality-reporting requirements or qualify as a…
CMS and other stakeholders take steps to improve prior authorization in Medicare Advantage and beyond
Several recent developments point to an industrywide effort to ease the burden of prior authorization. Most notably, CMS on April 5 finalized a rule that includes provisions designed to improve prior authorization in Medicare Advantage (MA) starting with the 2024 plan year. The rule addresses a few aspects of prior authorization, among them the way…
Beyond the News: What the end of the PHE means for Medicaid
HFMA Senior Editor Nick Hut and HFMA Policy Director Shawn Stack discuss the end of the public health emergency and what it means for Medicaid as well as a recent blog post from Stack on price transparency.