News Briefs
FDA closed out the year with the publication of a final order that exempts dozens of Class I and Class II medical devices from 510(k) premarket review. The final order decreases the regulatory burden on medical device manufacturers and eliminates costs associated with complying with those rules, the agency said.
(Source: Medtech Dive, 2019-12-31)
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Drugmakers including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, and Biogen hiked U.S. list prices on more than 50 drugs, bringing total New Year's Day drug price increases to more than 250, according to data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors. Nearly all of the price increases are below 10 percent and the median price increase is around five percent, according to 3 Axis.
(Source: Reuters, 2020-01-01)
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Fortune 500 healthcare companies -- and insurers in particular -- paid much higher federal income taxes last year than their counterparts in other industries, according to a recent study. The 13 healthcare companies included in the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy's study of profitable Fortune 500 companies paid an effective tax rate of 20.7 percent collectively, compared with 11.3 percent across all industries.
(Source: Modern Healthcare (free reg. req'd), 2020-01-04)
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The level of supervision required in hospital outpatient departments has long been a vexing compliance issue for hospitals, with recent hospital settlements in the millions of dollars for violating CMS's direct supervision rule. But beginning January 1, 2020, CMS eliminated the direct supervision requirement.
(Source: HealthLeaders Media, 2019-12-27)
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Hospitalist schedules promoting continuity of care may result in lower 30-day inpatient mortality rates, lower readmission rates, higher rates of discharge directly to the home, and lower 30-day post-discharge costs compared with discontinuous hospitalists' schedules, suggest study results published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
(Source: Medical Bag, 2020-01-06)
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The senior population continues growing at a time when the insurance market for senior living operations is under strain and both trends are expected to continue. A handful of carriers has left the senior living market and the industry overall is experiencing consolidation.
(Source: Insurance Journal, 2020-01-06)
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Though the Patient Driven Payment Model is driving many providers to take on more clinically complex residents, a new study shows that skilled nursing facilities that serve more frail patients are more likely to be penalized under Medicare's SNF Value-Based Purchasing program. A Washington University research team found that patient characteristics, such as frailty, and structural components, such as nursing home size, profitability, and star ratings, could have a significant impact on providers' performance under the SNF VBP program.
(Source: McKnight's, 2019-12-18)
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Medicare quality-of-care data reveal that when a hospital is acquired by another hospital or hospital system, readmission and mortality rates are not affected, but patient satisfaction deteriorates modestly. Compared to a control group of 1,986 hospitals that did not change hands, acquired hospitals saw their "patient experience" satisfaction score decline from the equivalent of 50th percentile to 41st.
(Source: Reuters, 2020-01-01)
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Some hospitals are getting into real estate. The reason? Recovery continues after the hospital stay and it can be much more difficult to heal or manage chronic conditions if patients are worried about their next meal or sleeping on the street.
(Source: Fox News, 2019-12-28)
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