Category: CMS
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AAP is Mostly Positive on Telemedicine
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released its official policy on telemedicine, recommending certain uses of the technology and disavowing others for fragmenting care. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released its official policy on telemedicine, recommending certain uses of the technology and disavowing others for fragmenting care. The AAP’s statement on telemedicine advocates that…
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Study: Federal Reporting of Infection Data is Time-Consuming
Collecting and reporting infection data to federal health agencies is not the soundest strategy, according to a new research effort. Collecting and reporting infection data to federal health agencies is not the soundest strategy, according to a new research effort. Infection preventionists at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset (Somerville, N.J.) tabulated the time it…
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Study: Unauthorized immigrants pay billions more than they utilize in Medicare Trust Fund
Unauthorized immigrants pay billions more into Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund each year than they withdraw in health benefits, according to research from Harvard Medical School, the Institute for Community Health and the City University of New York School of Public Health at Hunter College. Read more from originating source…
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Despite potential, telemedicine lags among seniors, Medicare beneficiaries
Nearly 20 years after videoconferencing technology became available for health services, fewer than 1 percent of Medicare beneficiaries use it, according to Kaiser Health News. read more Read more from originating source…
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Readmission to same hospital for post-surgical complications improves survival
Patients rehospitalized with complications after major surgery are 26% more likely to survive if they return to the hospital where they had their operation compared to those readmitted to a different hospital, according to a national study involving over 9 million Medicare patients in the USA, published in The Lancet. Read more from originating source…
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Better primary care needed to reduce unnecessary ED visits by Medicaid patients
Although a goal of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act was to provide Medicaid patients with a source of nonemergency care outside of hospital emergency departments (EDs), researchers suggest that these newly enrolled patients will likely continue to look to EDs for treatment of chronic diseases and other nonemergency issues, despite state attempts to…
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Meaningful Use rules should focus more on how vendors protect patient data
As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services begins to sort through the comments it’s received on the proposed “flexibility” rule softening Stages 1 and 2 of Meaningful Use for… read more Read more from originating source…
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Medicare prescription drug benefit did not save any money overall, say researchers
For years, the Medicare prescription drug benefit Part D has been credited with positively impacting national trends in health outcomes and medical services. But a recent study led by Northeastern associate professor Becky Briesacher challenges that assumption and suggests that the U.S. Congressional Budget Office’s adopted a new costing method based on assumed cost-savings may…
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Groups Offer Comments, Suggestions for MU Modification Proposals
Several healthcare IT groups have submitted comments and offered suggestions in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed meaningful use modifications from 2015-2017 that it laid out earlier this year. Several healthcare IT groups have submitted comments and offered suggestions in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS)…
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Proposed Meaningful Use alterations receive mixed reviews
There has been some support for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed rule softening some of the requirements of the Meaningful Use program for 2015 through 2017, but commenters have also raised a number of concerns about it. read more Read more from originating source…