All angles point in one direction
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| Mary Stevens, Editor |
And yet, an AHA study shows hospitals contribute 16 percent of the GDP in this nation and are directly or indirectly responsible for more than five million jobs. What’s to be done? Plenty. Better care might involve more required rest for residents.
Getting EMRs into more patients’ and clinicians’ hands might help, too, according to a poll by Harris Interactive.
At press time, we were still waiting on the final word on meaningful use, athough the revamped CMS web site changed the wording about when we can expect that. The time frame for the final rule has been tweaked to “late spring/early summer,” where it used to say only “late spring.” Spring is over, and “early summer” has about two weeks left before it becomes “midsummer.”
Not that CMS hasn’t been busy: It’s launched an EHR incentive program website, much like a runway on which that the finalized requirements for MU could land. Everyone is hoping it lands soon—and not many believe it will land gracefully. The ONC’s final rule for EHR certification also landed this week, establishing a temporary certification program for EHR technology, which establishes processes that organizations will need to follow in order to be authorized by the National Coordinator to test and certify EHR technology.
Elsewhere, the wrangling over Medicare moved further out as the U.S. House passed another six-month stopgap for the sustainable growth rate formula. This fix will be in place for services provided between June 1 and Nov. 30. Unless Congress takes steps between now and Nov. 30, the 2.2 percent increase will cease on Dec. 1 and the 21.3 percent reduction will be restored.
On the quality side, the National Quality Forum announced it will hold a public comment period on the Quality Data Set, an information model that defines concepts used in quality measures and clinical care to automate EHR use, through July 1. The CMS Enrollment Workgroup is also looking for suggestions—specifically, blog information—for streamlining enrollment processes for insurance and other programs.
Finally, a growing number of federal and state policies, such as anti-kickback laws, the Stark Law and the Sunshine Act, aim to put daylight between industry and healthcare providers and avoid the development of a medical-industrial complex. However, if these measures restrict the flow of information, they could have the opposite effect, reducing medical innovations and ultimately, stunting improvements in patient care, according to a presentation at the Society of Vascular Surgery (SVS) annual meeting in Boston.
Keep the information flowing—let me know what you think about this week’s developments.
Mary Stevens, editor
mstevens@trimedmedia.com