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New Hampshire is started a bill to have all hospitals in the state charge the same amount for all things. This, they believe, will make insurers have more competition and charge cheaper rates. Of course, they don't consider that it costs hospitals different amounts from their suppliers.
CMS has sanctioned Massachusetts General Hospital for violations found on routine inspection of the hospital. This came after a patient death and a problem with their heart monitors. They have corrected that problem but others remain.
UC Irvine is still on the outs with those who care about quality. They again are deficient. This time on medication management that puts patients at risk. The hospital has again sent a correction notice and now is hiring outside consultants to attempt to correct their problems. Top
There is a national repository like the National Practitioners Data Bank for nurses, therapists, pharmacists and other licensed health professionals. The feds have just let the whole lot of the administrators of this program go. They have not been doing their job and have left thousands of people off the list. They will now be going to all the state's and getting lists of all those disciplined to add to their data bank. The states did not report as was required to the bank and the bank never followed up.
Senator Bunning finally relented and now Congress has until April 1 to fix SGR. This will not happen with this Congress. The Congress then delayed their ineptitude until October 1.
The healthcare morass just continues. Obama et al continue to stymie the rest of the work that needs to be done in order to send the country into more debt. The CBO has recently done an update of the Senate bill and find that it would cost $875 Billion over the next decade. The reason for the changes is that payments would be started now but nothing would be done for several years. Therefore the decade is truly only about six years.
The Democrats want to use reconciliation to pass a bill through the Senate. The Senate parliamentarian has stated that Obama must sign the original bill before another bill can be passed in the Senate by the reconciliation process. This means the whole thing must be done again and will delay all other work such as the jobs and economy. The House also has to trust that the Senate will actually pass a House bill by the reconciliation process. The two houses do not trust each other. Top
Physicians received more of a reprieve from Medicare as the agency again delayed the onset of PECOS. The CMS moved the date from April 5, 2010 to January 3, 2011, for physician enrollment in order to be paid. All physicians must be enrolled as well as all suppliers. If the referring physician is not enrolled then the performing physician will not get paid. This includes those working in VA hospital, and those who care for Tri-Care patients. Top
DISCLAIMER: Although this
article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the
time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers
should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the
information presented.