Reporting for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is particularly vulnerable to fraud, OIG said, because it relies on clinicians on submitting their own data—and allows them to resubmit data to change their score.

In recognition of the nation’s highest quality hospitals, The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit hospital watchdog organization, announced today the recipients of its 2017 Top Hospitals award. This year, New Jersey, California, Florida and Massachusetts had strong showings, with 10 or more hospitals in each of those states receiving the elite distinction.

The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) introduced by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) hasn’t been beloved by hospitals who have been penalized by it, but now new studies have given physicians and administrators new reasons to oppose it: It may be jeopardizing patient care.

McKesson’s board failed to audit the company’s methods to detect suspicious shipments of opioid painkillers, even after agreeing to do so in a court settlement, according to board minutes unsealed as part of a shareholder lawsuit.

Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago has alleged the Leapfrog Group knowingly used incorrect information in awarding the facility a “C” grade in its fall 2017 safety grade report. But Leapfrog’s response to the suit said Saint Anthony had ample time to review its grade and said nothing about a suspected error in data the hospital itself had submitted until six days before grades were to be published.

A study of more than 90,000 hip operations at hospitals in Ontario found when surgeons were overseeing two operations at once, patients were nearly twice as likely to experience serious complications, with a longer overlap increasing the risk.

The mortality rate for patients hospitalized for opioid-related conditions more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2014, with increases in admissions related to opioids among whites, people aged 50 to 64, Medicare beneficiaries with disabilities and people from lower-income areas.

A USA Today investigation found the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) knowingly hired physicians with past malpractice claims, poor disciplinary records or who had even had their license revoked—with some going on to be sanctioned by the VA for the same infractions outlined on their applications.