MHA Today | January 14, 2022

Staff Contact: Jane Drummond

Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that CMS could implement its Interim Final Rule imposing COVID-19 vaccination mandates. The court determined the agency had authority under the CoPs to impose requirements that promote a safe care environment for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

The court granted an emergency stay of OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard requiring large employers to mandate workforce vaccination or weekly testing. It found the threat of COVID-19 was not limited to the workplace and therefore beyond OSHA’s authority to regulate absent express congressional approval.

Staff Contact: Sarah Willson

The Secretary of HHS extended the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency declaration through Saturday, April 16. CMS waivers provided under the COVID-19 PHE will remain in place, unless otherwise withdrawn, for the duration of the PHE.

Staff Contact: Carissa Van Hunnik or Sarah Willson

As COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to spike throughout Missouri, hospitals are experiencing issues with patient transport options and longer patient transport times. MHA worked with HSG to develop important reminders when the immediate transfer of a patient — whose care needs are beyond the scope of the hospitals resources and trained staff — cannot be effectuated in a timely manner.

In addition, an ongoing bed availability query remains active in EMResource to provide system users with access to critical and timely bed information to help identify options for patient placement throughout the state. Hospitals are strongly encouraged to ensure facility information is updated at least once per day while the query remains active.

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

The CMS Innovation Center announced that 30 Kidney Care First Practices and 55 Kidney Contracting Entities are participating in the PY 2022 Kidney Care Choices Model. The KCC model is an initiative to add strong financial incentives for health care providers to manage the care for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic kidney disease. The following are participants serving beneficiaries in Missouri.

• • Gateway Kidney Care KCE, LLC
  • Heartland Kidney Care Entity, LLC
  • Kidney Associates of Kansas City PC

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

CMS released a correction notice for CY 2022 services provided under the Medicare OPPS. The corrections are technical in nature, and MHA published an issue brief with details.

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

MHA published a comprehensive analysis of the top 50 surgical procedures performed at each Medicare OPPS hospital. The analysis, which is available online for authorized users of HIDI Analytic Advantage, is based on the CY 2019 Medicare Outpatient Standard Analytic File. The report includes hospital-specific details by procedure, including the Medicare relative weight, the Medicare payment amount, volume and volume distribution percentages, as well as state aggregated data.

Staff Contact: Sherry Buschjost

Now available on QualityNet is version 5.12 of the Specifications Manual for National Hospital Inpatient Quality Measures for the IQR Program. A complete list of changes is available in the associated release notes.

Staff Contact: Becky Boyce

SSM Health announced Jake Brooks as the next president of St. Joseph Hospitals in St. Charles and Wentzville, effective Sunday, Jan. 16. Brooks has served as the vice president of operations for the two hospitals since July 2020. He joined SSM Health in 2014 serving as a physician services manager and later as director of ambulatory business operations. Brooks succeeds Dr. Doug Barton who has been interim president of the two hospitals since July 2021.