News
New Medicare Rule Will Reimburse Physicians for Advance Care Planning
November 5, 2015
Hospitalists care for patients with the most serious, chronic, and complex illnesses. As a result, they are often faced with the daunting task of counseling their patients to help them clearly define their end-of-life wishes.
![1]()
News
Policy Changes Hospitalists May See in 2016
November 4, 2015
The year 2015 brought the repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) and new rules for advanced care planning reimbursement.
News
Risk Adjusting Readmissions: Coming Soon?
November 4, 2015
Nearly three-quarters of hospitals will be receiving penalties from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2016 for excess readmissions, having failed to prevent enough patients from returning to the hospital 30 days post-discharge.
![1]()
News
Revolutionizing Quality Improvement in Hospital Medicine
November 4, 2015
As the senior physician advisor to SHM’s Center for Hospital Innovation and Improvement, Eric Howell, MD, SFHM, bridges the gap between clinical expertise and project support and development. The Hospitalist recently had a conversation with Dr.
![1]()
News
Medicare’s Readmission Reduction Program Cuts $420M to U.S. Hospitals This Year
November 4, 2015
It’s that time of year again … the time when hospitals around the country are being notified of their 30-day readmission penalties from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
![1]()
Opinion
Eliminations Hospitalist Groups Should Consider
November 4, 2015
[caption id="attachment_11771" align="alignright" width="295"] Image Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM[/caption] Editor’s note: Second in a continuing series of articles exploring ways hospitalist groups can cut back. In last month’s column, I made the case that most hospitalist groups should think abo
News
CMS Releases Updated Two-Midnight Rule for 2016
November 2, 2015
On November 13, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is scheduled to publish its final OPPS rule for 2016. One of the biggest impacts for hospitalists is the update to the two-midnight rule. Here are six areas of interest to hospitalists: 1.
![1]()
News
Hospitalists Support Medicare’s Plan to Reimburse Advance Care Planning
October 6, 2015
[caption id="attachment_11434" align="alignright" width="295"] SHM has joined 65 medical specialty and professional societies in signing a letter to HHS asking for end-of-life care codes to be formalized in CY 2016.Image Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM[/caption] On July 8, following on the heels of the
News
Physicians Critical of Proposed Changes to Medicare’s Two-Midnight Rule
September 9, 2015
[caption id="attachment_11176" align="alignright" width="300"] Hospitalist Ann Sheehy, MD, (left) meets with legislators after testifying in Washington, D.C., regarding issues surrounding Medicare’s two-midnight rule.[/caption] In the wake of proposed changes to the Centers for Medicare and Medic
News
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
