If enacted, the bi-partisan Senate bill would change Medicare’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program to avoid possibly unfairly penalizing hospitals that treat a greater percentage of poor, Medicare and Medicaid dual-eligible patients.

Being poor raises the risk of dying from cancer considerably for many reasons, not the least of which is the disparity in cancer screening rates between rich and poor. A new study appearing in JAMA Internal Medicine adds research support to the importance of targeted interventions in erasing such disparities.

NEW YORK, INDIANAPOLIS, June 17, 2014 – ConvergeHEALTH by Deloitte and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. are announcing that Regenstrief, an internationally recognized informatics and health care research organization, has become a member of ConvergeHEALTH’s real-world evidence and analytics consortium. 

June 10, 2014, Boston, Massachusetts – Press Ganey today announced the acquisition of the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI®), the leading quality improvement and nurse engagement tool developed by the American Nurses Association (ANA) and managed by The University of Kansas School of Nursing. The acquisition strengthens Press Ganey’s ability to empower nurses and nursing leaders in their mission to reduce patient suffering and improve the patient experience.

Louisville, KY, June 19, 2014 -- Deyta, LLC announced today that it will offer Submission Services with its new Quality Actionboards to further alleviate administrative burdens associated with ensuring Hospice Item Set (HIS) compliance. As part of the CMS Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP), all Medicare-certified hospices will be required to capture, validate and report the 64 patient-level data elements that comprise the HIS for all patients admitted on or after July 1, 2014.

When Dallas-based Parkland Health & Hospital System announced last week that it would bump up its entry-level pay to $10.25 per hour using the first pool of funds earned by executives as part of a new pay for performance plan, it tapped into a much larger national debate about executive pay, minimum wage levels and income disparity.

The already rapidly changing ambulatory surgery center (ASC) market is getting hotter as Surgery Center Holdings Inc. (which does business as Surgery Partners) will acquire Symbion Holdings Corporation and create a company with roughly 100 healthcare facilities and complementary ancillary services in 27 states that combined treat more than half a million patients a year.

Four organizations are joining forces to launch the first ever diabetes registry that is aimed at tracking and improving the quality of diabetes and cardiometabolic care across the primary and specialty care continuum.