Fewer quality measures, a shorter reporting period for Meaningful Use requirements and an increase in uncompensated rate payments were all positives in the eyes of hospitals in their initial reaction to the proposed 2019 Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule.

At the April meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), the panel voted to recommend a 30 percent cut to payment rates for standalone emergency departments (EDs) and indicated it may suggest action on hospital quality reporting later this year.

Easing clinician burden under the payment tracks implemented as part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) will be a priority for CMS in this year’s rulemaking, according to Kate Goodrich, MD, the agency’s chief medical officer. What won’t be changing, however, is requiring providers to meet the 2015 edition of certified electronic health record technology (CHERT) standards.

In a March 6 presentation at HIMSS18 in Las Vegas, Blake McKinney, CMO and co-founder of the virtual health platform CirrusMD, presented key learnings from how health systems and payers are meeting the needs of consumers though virtual care.

As the healthcare professionals touch down in Las Vegas for the 2018 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the organization released its annual survey of the marketplace. HIMSS published the 2018 U.S. HIMSS Leadership and Workforce Survey on March 6, which examines trends in employment, technology and expectations.

Thousands of professionals are touching down in Las Vegas for the 2018 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference. To help prep visitors, Brian Mack, manager of marketing and communications for Great Lakes Health Connect, discusses three trends in interoperability on the HIMSS website. 

The Co-Founder and Managing Director of Timicoin (www.Timicoin.io), to report how his blockchain technology can be ransomware's worst enemy if it ever attempts to attack medical records.

A large majority of medical group professionals responding to a poll from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) was opposed to mandatory participation in alternative payment models in Medicare, a policy CMS has been moving away from under President Donald Trump.