November 30, 2017 MHA Today is provided as a service to members of the Missouri Hospital Association. Additional information is available online at MHAnet. In This Issue Trump Administration Scales Back Mandatory Bundled Payment Initiatives MHA Releases Study Of The Senate Finance Committee Medicare Extenders Discussion Draft MLN Connects Provider eNews Available
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Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized their proposal to cancel the mandatory Episode Payment Models and Cardiac Rehabilitation incentive payment model. CMS also made significant changes to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model. These changes include splitting the previous mandatory metropolitan statistical areas into a voluntary and mandatory list. The previously mandatory MSAs in Missouri, consisting of Cape Girardeau, Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis, are now considered voluntary MSAs. If hospitals choose to voluntarily participate, CMS must receive the voluntary participation election letter no later than Jan. 31, 2018 for calendar year 2018. MHA published an issue brief with additional details. This announcement marks an official scaling back of previous Capability Maturity Model Integration programs requiring hospitals to participate in new care delivery models. The Trump administration states this is an ongoing effort to ease regulatory mandates imposed on providers. CMS Administrator Seema Verma stated the agency will announce a new set of voluntary payment bundles in the near future. MHA applauds these changes and continues to support efforts to promote flexibility. Back To Top
Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler The Medicare Dependent Hospital and expanded Low-Volume Hospital payment adjustments expired on October 1. To mitigate these payment reductions, MHA has been involved in advocacy efforts to extend these programs. The Senate Finance Committee released a discussion draft, which modifies the definition of low-volume payment adjustments and extends both programs. MHA provided a summary and analysis of the effect of the discussion draft. Results are illustrated in national, state, health system and individual hospital groupings. Policy and analytic studies, prepared for distribution by the Hospital Industry Data Institute, are available for download to authorized users of HIDI Analytic Advantage®. Back To Top
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Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler
Updates to MLN Connects Provider eNews were issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. eNews includes information about national provider calls, meetings, events, announcements and other MLN educational product updates. The latest issue provides updates and summaries of the following.
The nation's current obesity rate for children and teens is 18.5 percent. Fifty-seven percent of the nation's youth will be obese by age 35 if current trends continue. Source: USA TODAY