- GAO Seeks New Members for Tribal and Indigenous Advisory Council
- VA: Staff Sergeant Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program Funding Opportunity
- Telehealth Study Recruiting Veterans Now
- USDA Delivers Immediate Relief to Farmers, Ranchers and Rural Communities Impacted by Recent Disasters
- Submit Nominations for Partnership for Quality Measurement (PQM) Committees
- Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation of the Medicare Program (Executive Order 14192) - Request for Information
- Dr. Mehmet Oz Shares Vision for CMS
- CMS Refocuses on its Core Mission and Preserving the State-Federal Medicaid Partnership
- Social Factors Help Explain Worse Cardiovascular Health among Adults in Rural Vs. Urban Communities
- Reducing Barriers to Participation in Population-Based Total Cost of Care (PB-TCOC) Models and Supporting Primary and Specialty Care Transformation: Request for Input
- Secretary Kennedy Renews Public Health Emergency Declaration to Address National Opioid Crisis
- Secretary Kennedy Renews Public Health Emergency Declaration to Address National Opioid Crisis
- 2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Proposed Rule
- Rural America Faces Growing Shortage of Eye Surgeons
- Comments Requested on Mobile Crisis Team Services: An Implementation Toolkit Draft
Rural Health Resources Roundup: Rural Healthcare Surge Readiness Web Portal
In September’s session of the Rural Health Resources Roundup Series, CAPT Renee Joskow talks about the Rural Healthcare Surge Readiness Web Portal. The portal provides key and essential resources, tools, and training to prepare for and respond to COVID-19 in rural communities. It was developed by the Federal Healthcare Resilience Working Group and the Rural Surge Readiness Team.
Listen to the Rural Healthcare Surge Readiness Web Portal session.
Medical Errors Increase by Nearly 20% Around Daylight Saving, Study Finds
From Becker’s Hospital Review
In the days following the switch to daylight saving time, human mistakes tied to patient safety-related incidents increased by almost 20 percent, according to a study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Researchers analyzed voluntarily reported data from Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic that occurred seven days before and after the spring and fall time changes for 2010-17. Patient safety-related incidents included defective systems, equipment failure or human error.
Researchers didn’t report significant differences in overall errors in the weeks before and after the time changes. However, when analyzing human error only, they found the number of human errors increased by a statistically significant 18.7 percent after daylight saving in the spring. Most of the errors involved medications, such as administering the wrong dose or wrong drug.
CMS Announces Innovative Payment Model to Improve Care, Lower Costs for Cancer Patients
Radiation Oncology Model will modernize Medicare payments for radiotherapy services
On September 18, CMS finalized a new Innovation Center model expected to improve the quality of care for cancer patients receiving radiotherapy and reduce Medicare expenditures through bundled payments that allow providers to focus on delivering high-quality treatments. The new Radiation Oncology (RO) Model allows this focus on value-based care by creating simpler, more predictable payments that incentivize cost-efficient and clinically effective treatments to improve quality and outcomes. The RO Model, part of a final rule on specialty care models issued by CMS, will begin on January 1, 2021 and is estimated to save Medicare $230 million over 5 years.
“President Trump knows that, for cancer patients, what matters is their quality of life and beating their cancer. But today, Medicare payment for radiotherapy is based on the number of treatments a patient receives and where they receive it, which can lead to spending more time traveling for treatment with little clinical value,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “That’s why the Trump administration has developed a new innovative model that allows patients and providers to focus on better outcomes for patients.”
For More information:
These Models are a part of a CMS final rule on Medicare Program; Specialty Care Models To Improve Quality of Care and Reduce Expenditures (CMS-5527-F).
CMS Announces Transformative New Model of Care for Medicare Beneficiaries with Chronic Kidney Disease
Model focuses on reducing costs and improving quality of care for patients
On September 18, CMS announced it has finalized the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Treatment Choices (ETC) Model, to improve or maintain the quality of care and reduce Medicare expenditures for patients with chronic kidney disease. The ETC Model delivers on President Trump’s Advancing Kidney Health Executive Order and encourages an increased use of home dialysis and kidney transplants to help improve the quality of life of Medicare beneficiaries with ESRD. The ETC Model will impact approximately 30 percent of kidney care providers and will be implemented on January 1, 2021 at an estimated savings of $23 million over five and a half years.
“Over the past year, the Trump Administration has taken more action to advance American kidney health than we’ve seen in decades,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “This new payment model helps address a broken set of incentives that have prevented far too many Americans from benefiting from enjoying the better lives that could come with more convenient dialysis options or the possibility of a transplant.”
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CMS Announces New Guidance for Safe Visitation in Nursing Homes During COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
On September 17, CMS issued revised guidance providing detailed recommendations on ways nursing homes can safely facilitate visitation during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. After several months of visitor restrictions designed to slow the spread of COVID-19, CMS recognizes that physical separation from family and other loved ones has taken a significant toll on nursing home residents. In light of this, and in combination with increasingly available data to guide policy development, CMS is issuing revised guidance to help nursing homes facilitate visitation in both indoor and outdoor settings and in compassionate care situations. The guidance also outlines certain core principles and best practices to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission to adhere to during visitations.
See the full text of this excerpted CMS Press Release (issued September 17).
Final Evaluation of the Medicare ACO Investment Model
This week, the CMS Innovation Center released the final evaluation results of the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Investment Model (AIM), which operated under the Shared Savings Program (SSP) from 2015 to 2018. AIM provided up-front payments to select ACOs to invest in infrastructure and staffing and targeted small ACOs, many of which were in rural areas. Overall, participating ACOs reduced total Medicare spending and utilization without decreasing quality of care. Read more here.
Advancing Value-Based Care in States
This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidance to states on pathways they can use to advance value-based care, which seeks to reward providers based on quality of care instead of volume of services. This letter describes several models that can be used across many types of payers, key features of these models, and relevant Medicaid authorities needed for adoption. It includes several models identified in 2019 by Rural Health Value as appropriate for rural clinicians or health care delivery organizations. Read more here.
Comments Requested: Part I of the CY 2022 Advance Notice of Medicare Advantage and Part D Payment Policies—November 13
This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released earlier than usual their proposal for contract year 2022 to calculate risk scores for Medicare Advantage (MA) payments using only encounter data submitted by MA organizations and the 2020 CMS Hierarchical Conditions Categories (HCC) model. The intent of risk adjustment is to ensure that payments to MA plans reflect the relative risk, or characteristics and health conditions, of the enrollees. Research has found lower average risk scores for beneficiaries served by rural providers than urban, which is contrary to extensive research showing rural populations are less healthy than urban. Read more here.
HHS Request for Information: Laboratory Testing for COVID-19 – September 21
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks information on the ability of certain commercial, academic, medical center, and public health laboratories to expand diagnostic testing for COVID-19. Read more here.
Obstetric Emergencies in Rural Hospitals: Challenges and Opportunities
This policy brief from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center describes the challenges rural hospitals face in providing emergency obstetric care and highlights resources that could help rural hospitals more safely respond to obstetric emergencies. Read more here.