Administration officials including Health and Human Service Secretary Kahtleen Sebelius and CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, MD, Tuesday announced new proposed rules to eliminate obsolete and redundant government healthcare regulations that could save hospitals and providers $1.1 billion annually and more than $5 billion over five years.
The announcement comes as part of a broader effort across all government agencies to eliminate unnecessary and wasteful regulations as requested earlier this year in an executive order from President Barack Obama.
“The rules reflect the Administration’s ongoing commitment to reducing regulatory burdens as much as possible while maintaining full protections of the doctors and patients in our system,” said Sebelius at a press conference announcing the proposed rules. “Going forward, President Obama has made it clear to me and all department leaders that we need to reduce the regulatory cost and burden and prioritize regulations that promote economic growth and jobs.”
One set of rules proposes updating the rules for hospitals that treat Medicare and Medicaid patients - the Medicare Conditions of Participation. As an example, the proposed reforms would consolidate patient care plans and eliminate outdated requirements for hospital management. This could save hospitals over $900 million per year and perhaps grow to much more over time as hospitals increasingly use this new flexibility.
Specific examples cited by Sebelius that can lessen the financial burden on hospitals include:
- Eliminating the requirement that every hospital have one person who manages all outpatient services and instead allowing hospitals to manage outpatient services from within each department that provides outpatient services.
- Eliminating the requirement that all hospitals do all lab work, radiology services and a host of other services performed in-house. This will especially help the nation’s smaller, rural, critical access hospitals to outsource these services as opposed to needing to carry staff.
- Allowing hospitals to use advance practice RNs and other non-physician providers to work to provide the full range of service they are allowed by their state, as opposed to the more restrictive federal guidelines.
“These regulations aren’t just about saving money. The rules we have proposed today include important reforms that remove barriers and give healthcare providers the flexibility to improve patient care,” added Berwick
A second set of rules addresses regulatory requirements that could save providers an additional $200 million in the first year. The rule would identify and begin to eliminate duplicative, overlapping, outdated and conflicting regulatory requirements for healthcare providers and suppliers such as end-stage renal disease facilities and durable medical equipment suppliers. These reforms include updating obsolete e-prescribing technical requirements to meet current standards and eliminating other out-of-date and overly prescriptive requirements for healthcare providers.
CMS is also finalizing a third rule that reduces regulatory burden for ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), which is expected to save ASCs $50 million per year.