Medicare Expected to Release Final List of Hospitals Assessed with Penalties under Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program in October

The Affordable Care Act established  three mandatory pay-for-performance programs. The three programs are the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program, and the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program. Since the law was enacted hospitals have been scrambling to meet the requirements of all three programs to avoid the possible loss of 5.4 percent of Medicare payments if maximum penalties are assessed.

The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that one out of every eight patients suffered a potentially avoidable complication during a hospital stay in 2012. The Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program was created as part of an effort to improve patient safety, create a financial incentive to improve care, and hold hospitals responsible for their negligence and dangerous conditions. 

Medicare will begin penalizing hospitals that have the highest rates of patients that acquire new infections or injuries during their hospital stay in October.  The preliminary list of approximately 750 hospitals Medicare expects to penalize was encompasses nearly a quarter of the nation's hospitals and is available here. Hospitals with the worst rates for hospital-acquired injuries and illnesses will lose 1 percent of every Medicare payment for the next year. 

Can't Miss NAHAM Webinar on Improvements to Patient Access Departments Through Automation, June 26th

NAHAM presents the "Building a More Efficient Patient Access Department Through Automation" webinar, free to NAHAM members on June 26, 2014, from 2:00-3:00 p.m. This webinar will be presented by Patrick Kelley, Dedicated Advisor at The Advisory Board Company, and Alexander Guambana, Senior Director at The Advisory Board Company.

In partnership with The Advisory Board Company and Lowell General Hospital, we will be walking through a health system’s response to new industry demands by leveraging automation and efficiency gains. The Advisory Board Company will present its research on new Patient Access trends across the industry, how patient estimation is becoming a major player in healthcare, and how hospital Revenue Cycle departments are responding to new legislation in the ACA. Join us as Lowell General Hospital and The Advisory Board present their experience of implementing a culture of point-of-service estimation and the utilization of technology.


Information
Building a More Efficient Patient Access Department Through Automation
Thursday, June 26, 2014
2:00 pm - 3:00 p.m. ET



This webinar is worth 1 contact hour.




Click here to register for the webinar. There is no cost for members!


Upon purchase, you will receive information via email about accessing the live webinar.