Emergency management, physical environment and life safety codes were the most frequently cited areas for deficiencies at healthcare facilities surveyed by the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP) in 2016, according to the organization’s latest quality report.

The annual list of measures being considered by CMS for inclusion in Medicare quality reporting and value-based programs is less than a third of the length of the previous list, reflecting the agency’s new commitment to reduce what physicians see as burdensome reporting standards.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma, MPH, told Reuters the agency is considering several options to limit Medicare and Medicaid’s costs for covering breakthrough medical treatments with very high price tags.

In a final rule issued on Nov. 30, CMS finalized changes to several mandatory bundled payment programs, canceling two surrounding hip fractures and cardiac care and reducing requirements in a joint replacement bundle.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said passing an Affordable Care Act (ACA) stabilization measure after getting rid of the ACA’s individual mandate would still leave 13 million fewer people insured by 2027 and cause premiums increase by an average of 10 percent over the same time period.

An overall stable outlook for the healthcare sector in 2018 the latest report from Fitch Ratings came with a warning that individual companies will likely see a greater number of credit downgrades, while the industry as a whole could soon face disruption by “outside forces.”

When Margaret O’Neill brought her 5-year-old daughter to Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora for an outpatient procedure to snip some tissue around her tongue, the surgeon made an unusual offer to pierce her ears while she was under anesthesia.

The American Hospital Association, America’s Essential Hospitals and the Association of American Medical Colleges are both lobbying against and suing over a CMS rule to cut Medicare payments made through 340B drug discount program by 28 percent.