Tag: Reimbursement

Potential rewards justify efforts to create bundled payment programs

Physician alignment is a key element of current hospital strategy. Last month, we looked at how hospital ORs can use co-management agreements to build strong collaboration with surgeons. Payment reform has created an even more sophisticated option—participation in a bundled payment program. Bundled payment initiatives are more complex than most…

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By: OR Manager
November 17, 2014
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Prepare now for more stringent joint replacement documentation requirements

Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) in several states recently ratcheted up their documentation requirements for joint replacement surgery and other orthopedic procedures. For hospital ORs, these changes represent the tip of an iceberg that calls for careful navigation. Enhanced medical necessity documentation requirements were launched in Florida in 2011. The state’s…

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By: OR Manager
September 22, 2014
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Medicare reimbursement, allowable procedures at forefront of ASC challenges

Leaders of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) can expect to continue facing challenges related to reimbursement even as they try to increase the kinds of procedures that can be performed in their facilities, say experts with the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA). Other key factors that will determine their future success…

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By: OR Manager
August 15, 2014
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CMS issues proposed hospital inpatient payment rule

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 30 issued its proposed rule that would update FY 2015 Medicare payment polices and rates for inpatient stays at general acute care and long-term care hospitals. The proposed rule will increase the payment rate to general acute care hospitals by…

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By: OR Manager
May 12, 2014
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Anticipate & educate to navigate murky healthcare reform waters

Anxiety over changes in healthcare delivery and payment systems has permeated hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Administrators are concerned about how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and other initiatives will hit the organization’s bottom line. Increasingly, perioperative services leaders are being drawn into discussions in these areas. “The OR…

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By: OR Manager
April 16, 2014
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Planning for postoperative care: A key strategy for reducing readmissions

With the expansion of Medicare readmission penalties to elective total-knee and total-hip arthroplasty patients in 2014 comes an increasing demand for OR leaders to ensure better postdischarge care. To avoid readmissions, OR management will have to be more proactive about reducing length of stay and complications and providing for care…

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By: OR Manager
February 1, 2014
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ACA will bring more patients to ASCs--but will profits follow?

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is affecting every part of the healthcare system, including ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Whether it will help or hinder ASCs, however, will depend on how adept they are at managing changes in the way they are paid and how they interact with…

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By: OR Manager
February 1, 2014
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Comprehensive dashboards paint a fuller picture of OR performance

OR Business Performance is a series intended to help OR managers and directors improve the success of their business.   Data-rich dashboards are an effective way to communicate with surgeons and align them with OR goals, but many reporting strategies have not kept pace with changes in the surgery market.…

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By: OR Manager
October 1, 2013
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New quality measures, tight deadline mark CMS payment rule for ASCs

It sounds like déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra used to say. That is likely to be the first reaction of many ambulatory surgery center (ASC) administrators to the Calendar Year 2014 Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Proposed Rule.   Pay formula unchanged Medicare payment updates would continue at…

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By: OR Manager
October 1, 2013
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ASC executives to meet with lawmakers

The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) annually asks members to participate in a “fly-in” to meet with members of Congress to raise awareness about the implications of health care policies. As ASCA vice president of government relations Steve Miller notes, there is nothing like hearing directly from a constituent to…

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By: OR Manager
August 1, 2013
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