Congress urged to reject Medicare, Medicaid cuts
Some 223 representatives signed a letter in March asking the House Budget Committee to reject more than $100 billion in cuts to hospital Medicare and Medicaid funding proposed in the President’s fiscal year 2008 budget. The letter noted that hospitals are experiencing negative margins on Medicare – estimated at negative 3.1 percent in 2005 and expected to fall to negative 5.4 percent this year – and are under increasing cost pressure, and the cuts would interfere with hospitals’ ability to provide access to care for seniors, the disabled and children.
Specialty hospital article prompts call for study
An article on specialty hospital trends in the March 7 Journal of the American Hospital Association renewed calls for additional oversight and investigation from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). “The fact that there are significantly higher increases of cardiac procedures in areas with specialty cardiac hospitals is of great concern if it’s the result of doctors encouraging procedures for financial gain instead of clinical need,” said Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He promised to continue work to stem the growth of physician-owned specialty hospitals.
CMS eyes appeal process for provider enrollment
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has proposed a rule that would establish a new appeals process for providers and suppliers whose applications for enrollment or renewal have been denied. Providers denied participation in the program cannot receive payments from the Medicare system. The new process would include the right to appeal to an administrative law judge and the Departmental Appeals Board in the Department of Health and Human Services. The rule also would set a deadline for a decision of 180 days.
2 states increase focus on quality, medical errors
Two states in mid-March reported stronger measures to highlight hospital performance. In California, a task force launched a Web site that rates more than 200 hospitals in the state on performance indicators. In Indiana, the state released 2006 data from a state system that’s designed to track medical errors. The system covers hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers, among other healthcare service
providers.