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Medicare Rule May Needlessly Extend Hospital Stay
August 19, 2015
(Reuters Health) - A decades old Medicare rule requiring a three-day hospital stay before patients can transfer to skilled nursing facilities may needlessly prolong hospitalizations, a study suggests. Researchers compared the average time patients were hospitalized between 2006 and
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New Bill Hopes to Increase Residency Medicare Slots after Two Previous Bills Failed
July 29, 2015
The new version again seeks to increase Medicare residency slots by 15,000 over five years, while attempting to identify physician shortage specialties and increase the workforce diversity. Two federal bills introduced in 2013, the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act and the Training Tomorr
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Institute of Medicine Report Prompts Debate Over Graduate Medical Education Funding, Oversight
July 29, 2015
Ever since 1997, when the federal Balanced Budget Act froze Medicare’s overall funding for graduate medical education, debates have flared regularly over whether and how the U.S.
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Experts Urge Extension to Medicaid’s Parity Program
July 29, 2015
On the last day of 2014, a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that increased payments to some physicians providing primary care services to the country’s poorest patients expired.
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Hospitalist’s Study Cited in Federal Recovery Audit Legislation Passed by Senate
July 29, 2015
Society of Hospital Medicine members have a real impact. [caption id="attachment_10802" align="alignleft" width="66"] Dr. Sheehy[/caption] A paper published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine in April by Ann Sheehy, MD, MS, and colleagues was recently cited in Sen.
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PHM15: A Closer Look at Quality Indicators, Evaluation Tools
July 24, 2015
Session: Let’s Measure Our Own Performance: Propose and Evaluate Pediatric Hospital Medicine Quality Indicators Summary: During this workshop, a staff of multiple, nationally-recognized quality leaders led a group to review, help develop, and help validate quality measures.
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PHM15: New Quality Measures for Children with Medical Complexity
July 24, 2015
Pediatric Hospital Medicine 2015's keynote speaker, Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPH, reviewed quality measures being developed for medically complex patients by the Center of Excellence on Quality of Care Measures for Children with Complex Needs (COE4CCN).
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CMS Proposes Changes to Two-Midnight Rule
July 14, 2015
On July 1, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced proposed changes to its controversial two-midnight rule.
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Medicare Initiatives Improve Hospital Care, Patient Safety
July 6, 2015
[caption id="attachment_10401" align="alignright" width="291"] Image Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM[/caption] As a hospitalist myself, I have seen firsthand the need for a healthcare system that provides better care, spends dollars more wisely, and keeps people healthier.
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Medicare Rankings Favor Small, For-Profit Hospitals
July 6, 2015
[caption id="attachment_10345" align="alignright" width="256"] Image Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM[/caption] In April, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) publicly revealed for the first time which hospitals achieved five stars and which had room for improvement based on patient exper
