Jordan Rau, Kaiser Health News
Medicare is fining a record number of hospitals -- 2,610 -- for having too many patients return within a month for additional treatments, federal records released Oct. 1 show. Thirty-nine of those are receiving the largest penalty allowed.
Rural, critical access hospitals are being left out of some of the biggest shifts in American healthcare initiated by the ACA, leaving some rural healthcare leaders worried about being marginalized and that they could be left behind as reforms spread.
About a quarter of the 243 groups of hospitals and doctors that banded together as accountable care organizations under the Affordable Care Act saved Medicare enough money to earn bonuses.
A quarter of the nation's hospitals in October will receive lower Medicare payments because their rates of patient complications are higher than their peers. Here is an explanation of the three measures Medicare is using to calculate the hospital-acquired conditions scores.
A quarter of the nation's hospitals, those with the worst rates of hospital-acquired conditions, will lose 1 percent of every Medicare payment for a year starting in October. The sanctions, estimated to total $330 million over a year, kick in at a time when most infections measured in hospitals are on the decline, but still too common.
Medicare's release Wednesday of millions of records of payments made to the nation's doctors comes as the government is looking to find more cost-efficient ways to pay physicians and refashion the way the country's healthcare system is financed.
Medicare accountable care organizations are having varying rates of success in addressing their patients' diabetes and heart disease, according to government data released Friday.
A new study of insurance claims at 110 hospitals found that facilities with the highest prices tended to have the strongest reputations and tight holds on their local markets yet showed little evidence of providing better quality care.
An analysis of new Medicare data provides a look at how the nation's hospitals are doing with all-cause, unplanned readmissions.
Medicare on Dec. 20 disclosed bonuses and penalties for nearly 3,000 hospitals as it ties almost $1 billion in payments to the quality of care provided to patients.