The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) is a Medicare value-based purchasing program that reduces payments to hospitals with excess readmissions. This performance program penalizes hospitals up to three percent of...more
On January 26, 2016, the CMS Office of Minority Health released a new Guide to Preventing Readmissions among Racially and Ethnically Diverse Medicare Beneficiaries (Guide). The purpose of the Guide is to assist hospital...more
FDA and CDC Issue An Alert on Properly Cleaning Medical Devices – On September 11, 2015, the CDC and FDA issued a joint advisory alerting providers and facilities about properly cleaning medical devices, due to concern with...more
CMS Issues SNF Final Payment Rule for FY 2016 – On July 30, 2015, CMS released the final Medicare FY 2016 payment rule for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The final rule will result in an estimated increase of $430 million...more
On July 31, 2015, CMS issued its final rule to update the fiscal year (FY) 2016 Medicare payment policies and rates under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective...more
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has issued a comprehensive guide with an interactive toolkit for providers to target reductions in Medicaid hospital readmissions. While numerous CMS initiatives have...more
After years of planning and in response to the reality of cuts from Medicare due to excessive readmissions, more than 30 Southern California hospitals and health systems and other providers gathered on June 10, 2013 to kick...more
On February 28, 2013, the acting principal deputy administrator and director of CMS, Jonathan Blum, provided a progress report to the Senate Finance Committee on CMS’s efforts to reform the healthcare delivery system,...more