Quality and Safety
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has taken its national 5010 testing days to the next level: a whole week – Aug. 22 to 26 – dedicated to testing in advance of the Jan. 1, 2012 compliance date.
Drug shortages across the U.S. are hitting record rates and are causing a variety of issues when it comes to patient care. Among the concerns, some “gray market” vendors may be charging unfair prices and in some cases, may be selling drugs that are ineffective, unsafe or both.
The world market for preventative vaccines totaled $25.3 billion in 2010, up from $22.1 billion in 2009, according to a report published by Kalorama Information.
Gray market vendors are adding exorbitant price mark-ups to desperately needed drugs in the wake of record-high drug shortages in the United States, according to a Premier healthcare alliance analysis of unsolicited sales offers.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is seeking to offer clarity to manufacturers and reviewers of medical devices. The agency released proposed guidance on how benefit-risk determinations are made during premarket review and how researchers and manufacturers can design better quality clinical studies.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $49 million in grants to improve the quality of healthcare and strengthen the public health infrastructure - double the spending for the same programs in 2010.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should improve its process for physician quality reporting in order to make the reports more reliable, says Government Accountability Office.
Aetna and post-acute care provider Genesis HealthCare announced last week an incentive-based contract aimed at rewarding Genesis for creating a coordinated care approach that reduces hospital readmissions for Aetna members.
Partners Health Care (the dominant provider network in Greater Boston) and Neighborhood Health Plan (a local mostly-Medicaid HMO) just announced that the former intends to acquire the latter, and maintain it as a separate operating entity.
Touting it as the first of its kind ACO in Northern California, Anthem Blue Cross and the Individual Practice Association Medical Group of Santa Clara County (SCCIPA) have announced a contract to provide accountable care to tens of thousands of Anthem PPO members in the Silicon Valley.