MHA Today | April 12, 2021

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

MHA released an analysis of the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System Value-Based Purchasing Program, the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program and the quality program measures trend reports. The VBP and HAC reports apply to IPPS hospitals and include estimated Medicare payment adjustments. The quality program measures trend reports are provided for both IPPS and critical access hospitals. Policy and analytic studies, prepared for distribution by the Hospital Industry Data Institute, are available for download to authorized users of HIDI Analytic Advantage.

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued the federal fiscal year 2022 proposed Medicare hospice wage index and payment rate updates. MHA published an issue brief with additional details.

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued the federal fiscal year 2022 proposed rules for the Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System. MHA published an issue brief with additional details.

Staff Contact: Alison Williams or Kelsey Hussey

The fourth annual national Black Maternal Health Week, founded and led by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, is a week of awareness, activism and community building that is recognized during National Minority Health Month. In Missouri, health outcomes for women and their children lag far behind the national average with people of color, low-income families and rural communities. According to the 2020 Missouri Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review Report, the rate of Black deaths in Missouri was more than four times higher than white deaths.

Today also marks a historic announcement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to expand access to continuous health care coverage and preventive care in rural areas to improve maternal health outcomes. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra announced that Illinois is the first state to provide continuity of full Medicaid benefit coverage for mothers by offering extended eligibility for a woman during the entire first year after delivery. A new data brief shows that more than half of pregnant women with Medicaid experienced a coverage gap in the first six months postpartum, and disruptions in Medicaid coverage often lead to periods of uninsurance, delayed care and less preventive care. The American Rescue Plan provides an easier pathway for states to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months.

Staff Contact: Jill Williams

The National Health Services Corps is recruiting for clinicians working at NHSC-approved sites and treatment facilities in Health Professional Shortage Areas for the NHSC Loan Repayment Program, the NHSC Substance Use Disorder Workforce Loan Repayment Program and the NHSC Rural Community Loan Repayment Program. In addition, the application cycle for the NHSC Scholarship Program for current medical, dental and other clinician students is open. NHSC clinicians play a prominent role in addressing the nation’s public health, as they practice in underserved areas with limited access to primary health care, regular dental care, behavioral health care and preventive screenings. The application closes on Thursday, May 6.

Staff Contact: Mary Becker

Last week, Sen. Roy Blunt visited a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Mercy Hospital Joplin where he spoke with front-line staff, hospital officials and patients. Blunt thanked the Mercy team for getting people vaccinated, saying, “Because of these safe and effective vaccines, there is light at the end of the tunnel. It’s incredible to think in less than a year, scientists and researchers were able to accomplish this modern medical miracle.”