Today’s update touches on a number of healthcare news stories we are seeing at the federal level.
Taking lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden Administration unveiled the strategy the U.S. has planned to prevent (and, if necessary, respond) to global biological threats over the next five years.
The strategy sets out three goals to guide the United States affirmative agenda to advance global health security:
In other news, a recent blog post from the American Hospital Association (AHA) critiqued the national discussion on healthcare price transparency. The post argues that although hospitals report more transparency data than other healthcare entities, calling upon hospitals to release even more data will not “solve the pressing issues” that face the healthcare industry. The blog post argued that existing hospital reporting is extremely costly, time-consuming, and ever-changing and that commercial insurers and drug companies are not held to the same data reporting standards.
In other news, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra spoke at a Senate hearing and urged states to expand Medicaid to improve rural health outcomes. Becerra stated that HHS is doing what it can, so women get good care before delivery, during delivery, and after delivery. Becerra also emphasized the need to ensure the agency’s COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities continue.
Relatedly, Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith also expressed concerns about maternal care deserts caused by hospital closures in her state at the same Senate hearing last week. Senator Smith noted that Mississippi experiences some of the worst maternal health outcomes in the country and often leads the country in infant mortality.
Finally, a recently published study in Health Affairs Scholar reports that telehealth remains underused, and remote patient care is either rarely billed to Medicare or rarely occurs. For example, in 2020, e-visits accounted for just under 1 percent of all managed service codes submitted to Medicare at the height of the pandemic, which later fell to half a percent in 2021 and 2022. The study reports that overall, telehealth remains underutilized, and claims its findings can help alleviate concerns regarding the potential overuse of portal messages and e-visit billing.
We have been talking a lot lately about the malfeasance of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, and deservedly so. But malfeasance can be a two-way street.
While President-elect Trump’s pick for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., put the agency in even international newspapers
Please log in to your account to comment on this article.
Join Beth Wolf, MD, CPC, CCDS, for an in-depth webcast on the FY2025 spinal fusion MS-DRG updates. Discover key changes in DRG classification, understand impacts on documentation and CMI, and learn strategies to ensure compliance.
Join Angela Comfort, DBA, MBA, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, as she presents effective strategies to strengthen collaboration between CDI, coding, and quality departments in acute care hospitals. Angela will also share guidance on implementing cross-departmental meetings, using shared KPIs, and engaging leadership to foster a culture of collaboration. Attendees will gain actionable tools to optimize documentation accuracy, elevate quality metrics, and drive a unified approach to healthcare goals, ultimately enhancing both patient outcomes and organizational performance.
Optimize your outpatient clinical documentation and gain comprehensive knowledge from foundational practices to advanced technologies, ensuring improved patient care and organizational and financial success. This webcast bundle provides a holistic approach to outpatient CDI, empowering you to implement best practices from the ground up and leverage advanced strategies for superior results. You will gain actionable insights to improve documentation quality, patient care, compliance, and financial outcomes.
Enhancing outpatient clinical documentation is crucial for maintaining accuracy, compliance, and proper reimbursement in today’s complex healthcare environment. This webcast, presented by industry expert Angela Comfort, DBA, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, will provide you with actionable strategies to tackle complex challenges in outpatient documentation. You’ll learn how to craft detailed clinical narratives, utilize advanced EHR features, and implement accurate risk adjustment and HCC coding. The session also covers essential regulatory updates to keep your documentation practices compliant. Join us to gain the tools you need to improve documentation quality, support better patient care, and ensure financial integrity.
Dr. Ronald Hirsch provides critical details on the new Medicare Appeal Process for Status Changes for patients whose status changes during their hospital stay. He also delves into other scenarios of hospital patients receiving custodial care or medically unnecessary services where patient notifications may be needed along with the processes necessary to ensure compliance with state and federal guidance.
Healthcare organizations face complex regulatory requirements under the No Surprises Act and Price Transparency rules. These policies mandate extensive fee disclosures across settings, and confusion is widespread—many hospitals remain unaware they must post every contracted rate. Non-compliance could lead to costly penalties, financial loss, and legal risks. Join David M. Glaser Esq. as he shows you how to navigate these regulations effectively.
Protect your facility from unwanted audits! Join Becky Jacobsen, BSN, RN, MBS, CCS-P, CPC, CPEDC, CBCS, CEMC, and take a deep dive into both the CMS and AMA guidelines for reporting post operative pain blocks. You’ll learn how to determine if the nerve block is separately codable with real life examples for better understanding. Becky will also cover how to evaluate whether documentation supports medical necessity, offer recommendations for stronger documentation practices, and provide guidance on educating providers about documentation requirements. She’ll include a discussion of appropriate modifier and diagnosis coding assignment so that you can be confident that your billing of post operative pain blocks is fully supported and compliant.
During this RACmonitor webcast Dr. Ronald Hirsch spotlights the areas of the OIG’s Work Plan and the findings of their most recent audits that impact utilization review, case management, and audit staff. He also provides his common-sense interpretation of the prevailing regulations related to those target issues. You’ll walk away better equipped with strategies to put in place immediately to reduce your risk of paybacks, increased scrutiny, and criminal penalties.
Copyright © 2024 RACmonitor. Powered by MedLearn Media.
Happy National Doctor’s Day! Learn how to get a complimentary webcast on ‘Decoding Social Admissions’ as a token of our heartfelt appreciation! Click here to learn more →
