Weekly roundup: Patient safety, privacy and payment

This week’s developments include a proposed rule updating the inpatient prospective payment system, the first meeting of a federal patient safety group and a new effort to prevent the switch to ICD-10.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed rule updates FY 2014 Medicare payment policies and rates for inpatient stays at general acute care and long-term care hospitals (LTCHs). The proposed rule is designed to reduce the growth in healthcare costs while improving the quality of patient care, according to the agency.

The proposed rule continues CMS’ commitment to payment improvements for Medicare-covered inpatient services, while increasing overall hospital payments (capital and operating) by $27 million. It lays out the framework for an Affordable Care Act patient safety program to be launched in FY 2015, aimed at reducing the frequency of hospital-acquired conditions. The rule also proposes to clarify admission and medical review criteria for hospital inpatient services. It includes CMS’ proposals for implementation of an Affordable Care Act provision that changes the methodology for calculating payments to hospitals that serve a large proportion of low-income patients.

The Health IT Policy Committee’s (HITPC’s) newly formed FDA Safety Innovation Act Workgroup (FDASIA) kicked off its first meeting, and began to pursue its statutory purpose: proposing strategies and recommendations for a risk-based regulatory framework for health IT that promotes innovation, protects patient safety and avoids regulatory duplication.

At the first meeting, the workgroup and three ex officio members from the FDA, FCC and ONC made introductions and heard presentations on all three agency missions and regulatory responsibilities.

Meanwhile, it seems that the effort by the healthcare industry to postpone a transition to ICD-10 won’t quit until the last minute. Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) introduced a bill dubbed the "Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2013" that would not require the transition.

The bill prohibits the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services from enforcing a switch to ICD-10, and also calls for the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study to "identify steps that can be taken to mitigate the disruption on healthcare providers resulting from a replacement of ICD-9."

How about your facility? Are you working toward ICD-10 implementation or hoping for a reprieve? Please share your thoughts.

Beth Walsh

Clinical Innovation + Technology editor