Kissito Alerts April 22
April 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Healthcare Alerts
Source: Health Care Finance News
Title: Physicians need more training to care for aging patients
Date: 4/22/09
URL: www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/physicians-need-more-training-care-aging-patients
- The Institute of Medicine’s March Symposium on healthcare reform for older patients recommended that health care professionals be trained to meet the needs of this growing segment of the population
- There are currently some 7,000 physicians trained in geriatrics, but the increasing demand calls for 36,000 physicians trained to care for the aging population.
- To help physicians, AMA has developed tools and made resources available that will supplement their knowledge and practices.
Source: McKnights
Title: Minnix: CMS administrator vacancy delaying possible five star rating system changes
Date: 4/22/09
- The absence of a chief at CMS may be stymieing provider’s attempts to persuade federal regulators to modify the new five star quality rating system for nursing homes.
- According to Larry Minnix, CEO and president of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, the five star system is “unjust, inadequate and poorly designed, and with flawed data.”
Source: Reflections on Health Care
Title: Why health care reform will be swift, dramatic and ultimately the right course of action
Date: 4/21/09
URL: www.tomclarke.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/health-care-reform-right-action/
- The cost of health care in America has emerged as a central issue in our economic crisis and in the expansion of health coverage for the uninsured.
- The CBO and CMS project the NHE will reach 17.9% of GDP in 2009 and the CBO’s optimistic GDP projections through 2015 place the NHE at 19.5% of GDP by 2015.
- Even if price controls were implemented, demographics and disease growth will continue to drive health care cost.
- Bundled payments will result in the emergence of new delivery arrangements focusing on resource use and coordinated disease management. Those that focus on cost effective delivery systems and outcome performance will thrive.
Source: Technology for Senior Housing
Title: Long term care could emerge as an important player in HIT.
Date: 4/21/09
URL: www.futureofseniorhousing.blogspot.com/2009/04/long-term-care-could-emerge-as.html
- Few nursing homes are using electronic health records that allow them to share information with other health care providers but more could begin using interoperable EHRs soon.
- The Certification Commission for Health Care Information Technology (CCHIT) announced it plans to begin certifying long term care health IT products by July 2010.
- Although certification is voluntary, the marketplace is starting to request it.
- A certification would ensure buyers that certified long term care HIT products would work seamlessly with other certified HIT products.
- HIT products is essential to long term care because the sector serves seniors who have multiple chronic conditions, multiple care providers, and tend to move across several care settings.
Source: McKnights
Title: Long term care tops agenda at AAHSA spring conference
Date: 4/21/09
- The AAHSA spring conference started Monday and will be held until Wednesday.
- Larry Minnix, president and CEO of AAHSA, says while some may wonder whether healthcare or long term care reform should come first, the point should be that long term care is health care reform.
Source: McKnights
Title: One long term care reform proposal would save billions, report finds
Date: 4/21/09
- Certain long term care reforms could save the government $35 billion over the next ten years, while providing for more effective reimbursement and post acute care systems, according to a report by Avalere Health.
- Highlights of the proposal include: the creation of a new site-neutral Medicare payment system for post acute care based on patient’s conditions and medical needs, the creation of a fully federalized, voluntary, catastrophic long term care benefit, and an increased amount of private funds used for long term care services.
- The proposal would require CMS to base reimbursements not on where treatment is given, but on Medicare beneficiary’s condition and treatment requirements.
- The proposals would reduce expenditures by $81 billion over 10 years due to more cost-effective placement of Medicare patients in post acute care settings.
- These savings would offset the estimated cost of $46 billion related to launching a consistent federal long term care program and bring total savings to $35 billion.
Source: McKnights
Title: Senate finance committee meets with long term care and other health care industry representatives today
Date: 4/21/09
- Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus and ranking member Charles Grassley will hold a roundtable discussion this afternoon with experts in a variety of different fields of the healthcare world.
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