Medicare posts inpatient, outpatient data online
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is making more information available on hospital pricing to give consumers data on healthcare costs and assist in decision making. The federal agency said it was releasing the information to fulfill the president’s commitment to make more quality and price information available. CMS last month released data on procedures performed in hospital outpatient departments. The agency previously posted information on hospital and ambulatory surgery center costs to its Web site.
New CMS rule focused on boosting quality of care
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule for Medicare payment for hospital outpatient services in calendar year 2007. The rule will implement new steps to make payments more accurate and to promote higher quality and value in outpatient care. Included in the final rule are provisions that expand quality reporting requirements for hospital inpatient services as well as an expanded list of services for which Medicare will make payment to ambulatory surgical centers in 2007.
HFMA releases New Training for Frontline Staff
Excellence in Customer Service, the first release in the Healthcare Finance Management Association’s Revenue Cycle Staff Training Series, is an educational program designed for frontline employees and others who have direct contact with patients and their families. When frontline staff provides outstanding customer service, patient safety and satisfaction increase – and so does a company’s bottom-line, say HFMA executives. The program includes four hours of training.
Purchasing group finds deal on surgical trays
The Premier Inc. healthcare alliance has launched a new group purchasing opportunity that could reduce the cost of high-volume surgical procedure trays by up to 20 percent or more. Premier has introduced group-purchasing agreements offering standardized trays that it calls “best practices” trays to members seeking an alternative to more expensive custom procedure trays. The first trays to be introduced include cystoscope, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, laparotomy, C-section, general minor, angiography, ortho-upper extremity, ortho-total hip, ortho-total knee, and ortho-knee arthroscopy packs.