ASC Industry Enjoys Strong Q3
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Carrie Pallardy, in Becker's ASC Review on 12-1-14, reports on the Q3 financials of several top ASCs.
WIM
Ambulatory Surgical Centers have always had a reputation as being money makers and healthcare reform appears to be good for business. Also, it doesn't hurt that the overall economy is enjoying a fierce rebound.
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CMS Proposes Changes to ACO Rules
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Also on 12.2.14, in Fierce Healthcare, Ilene MacDonald reports that:
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Monday proposed several changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).
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The proposed rule would give accountable care organizations (ACOs) that participate in the program an extra three years before they could face penalties for poor performance and creates a new risk model it calls "Track 3," which would offer greater savings for taking on greater risk. ACOs that participate in the new model could keep up to 75 percent of the money they save Medicare, but they would have to pay up to 15 percent for excessive spending.
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Healthcare Reform Working?
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In a 12.2.14 Modern Healthcare article (entitled 1.3 million adverse events prevented in U.S. hospitals since 2010, feds say) Sabriya Rice writes:
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimates that 1.3 million fewer patients were harmed in U.S. hospitals from 2010 to 2013 amid focused and widespread efforts to reduce surgical-site infections, adverse drug events and other preventable incidents. The decline represents cumulative 17% reduction and an estimated 50,000 deaths prevented over the three years after the launch of the Partnership for Patients, a public-private collaborative created with funding from HHS."This is an unprecedented decline in patient harm in this country," said CMS Deputy Administrator Dr. Patrick Conway. "This means avoiding costly mistakes and readmissions, keeping patients healthy and out of the hospital and rewarding quality instead of quantity."
WIM
Despite vociferous criticism from the right, most would admit that at least some elements of healthcare reform are working.
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