Stay in the know with Becker's Hospital Review's weekly roundup of the nation's biggest healthcare news. Here's what you need to know this week.
1. CMS finalizes hip, knee bundled payment program
CMS finalized a new payment model that holds acute care hospitals accountable for the quality of care they deliver to Medicare beneficiaries for hip and knee replacement from surgery through recovery. Under the five-year Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model, hospitals will continue to be paid according to existing Medicare fee-for-service rules. However, the hospital where the surgery takes place will be held accountable for the quality and costs of care from the time of surgery through 90 days after discharge. The hospitals under the payment model will be eligible to receive an additional payment or be required to repay Medicare for a portion of the episode costs depending on the quality of care and the hospital's cost performance. The CCJR Model will be implemented in 67 geographic areas — down from the original proposal of 75 areas — in April 2016. It will be mandatory for most hospitals in those areas, unlike other existing bundled payment programs.
2. CMS to terminate Houston hospital's Medicare contract
CMS is cutting Medicare and Medicaid funding to Houston-based St. JosephMedicalCenter on Dec. 3, according to a Houston Press report. The funding cut announcement comes after a federal inquiry into an incident at the hospital in August that involved an off-duty police officer, who was working security at St. Joseph, shooting a combative patient. The federal investigators' report on the shooting said hospital administrators initially blamed the patient for the shooting, saying his behavior justified the incident. CMS granted St. Joseph's officials several extensions to comply with its requested changes, but the hospital failed to do so. CMS said the hospital will lose its Medicare and Medicaid funding Dec. 3 because of its "continued noncompliance with Medicare's basic health and safety regulations," according to the report.
3. 2020 forecast: US drug spending to reach $575B
IMS Health projects global drug spending will grow to $1.4 trillion by 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 4 to 7 percent, with the U.S. accountable for $575 billion of the total, according to Reuters Health. This growth in spending is attributable to new drugs, especially those for rare diseases, and increased access to medicines in emerging markets, according to the report.
4. Cerner questions ousted Mizzou chancellor's role in Tiger Institute
As R. Bowen Loftin, former chancellor of the University of Missouri in Columbia, exits his role, Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner is distancing itself from the outgoing administrator. Mr. Loftin is being transitioned from his post following demonstrations on campus saying the university's administration has not adequately responded to reports of racism on campus. Mr. Loftin will take on new roles at the university, including director of research facility development at MU and director of university research with the Tiger Institute for Health Innovation, a collaboration between MU and Cerner. In a letter to MU curators, Cerner requested any reference of the company or the Tiger Institute to be removed from Mr. Loftin's transition agreement until the institute's governing body has a chance to review the agreement.
5. Joint Commission releases annual quality, safety report
"America's Hospitals: Improving Quality and Safety: The Joint Commission's Annual Report 2015," shows gains in how hospitals are performing on evidence-based care processes for treating conditions such as heart attack, pneumonia and stroke, though improvements can still be made. According to the report, more than 1,000 hospitals (representing 31.5 percent of all Joint Commission-accredited hospitals) earned the 2015 Top Performer on Key Quality Measures recognition, with at least one Top Performer hospital in each state. Twenty-three Top Performer hospitals exceeded 2014 expectations by collecting and reporting data and achieving Top Performer thresholds on seven or more core measure sets — more than the required number of six.
6. US hospitals see decline in uncompensated care rates due to the declining uninsured population
States that have expanded Medicaid have seen their uninsured self-pay payer mix decline 31.2 percent since the start of 2014, while charity expenditures have declined 36.6 percent over the same period, according to new data released by Crowe Horwath, one of the largest public accounting, consulting and technology firms in the U.S.
7. Where in the US, and in which specialties, do nurses earn the most?
The "Medscape Nurse Salary Report 2015," released Wednesday, revealed full-time registered nurses earn on average $79,000. However, RNs in four regions of the U.S. make considerably more than that, including the West (average full-time compensation of $105,000), the Northeast ($87,000), the Northwest ($81,000) and the Southwest ($81,000). The nursing positions that earn the most are nurse anesthetist ($170,000), nurse practitioner ($102,000), nurse midwife ($99,000) and clinical nurse specialist ($95,000).
8. FDA orders recall of 2,800 scope-cleaning machines due to infection risk
The Food and Drug Administration issued a recall order for all automated endoscope reprocessing machines manufactured by Custom Ultrasonics, citing continued violations on the part of the firm that could result in increased risk of infection. There are approximately 2,800 of the machines in use today, according to the FDA. The FDA has recommended facilities still using the machines begin taking steps to transition to other methods of flexible scope reprocessing. The organization also recommends any infections that may be linked to scopes improperly disinfected by Custom Ultrasonics' machines be reported to the FDA via MedWatch.