MHA Today | May 8, 2024

Staff Contact: Jane Drummond

SB 751, which prohibits pharmaceutical manufacturers from restricting hospitals’ use of contract pharmacies, was considered and passed by the House Special Committee on Public Policy. The bill must clear a House rules committee before it can be placed on the calendar for a floor vote. If the House approves the language in its current form, the bill will be sent to the governor for signature. The House passed nearly identical language as part of its larger pharmacy bill (HB 2267) in April on a vote of 113-28. The legislative session ends Friday, May 17.

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

The Medicare Trustees released the 2024 Annual Report to Congress about the financial and actuarial status of the hospital insurance and supplementary medical insurance trust funds. According to the report, Medicare covered 66.7 million people in 2023, with about 48% enrolled in a Medicare Advantage product. Total expenditures were $1,037 billion, with income of $1,024.6 billion. The total assets held in special issue U.S. Treasury securities decreased by $12.4 billion. Of the $1,037 billion in total expenditures, hospitals received $211.8 billion, while private health plans (MA) received $466.7 billion. MHA published an issue brief with additional information.

Staff Contact: Sarah Willson

CMS issued revised guidance for home health agencies and hospices regarding the informal dispute resolution process. QSO-24-11-HHA & Hospice clarifies CMS’s ability to issue civil monetary penalties, directed in-service training, directed plans of correction, suspension of payment for new admissions and temporary management of programs found to have conditional-level deficiencies.

Staff Contact: Shane VanOverschelde

HIDI posted the FFY 2023 inpatient and outpatient physician loyalty report for subscribers to the Premier Reporting Package. This report displays a list of physicians by name and the frequency in which they were attending physicians across combinations of various categories, including inpatient/outpatient setting, hospital, patient ZIP code, DRG and payer. This data is delivered in a ready-to-query Microsoft Access database file and is available in the following location.

• Folder: Advantage Analytics/Premier Subscriptions/Stand-Alone Premier Reports
• File name: MO0000_Phy_Loy_2023.zip

Hospitals interested in subscribing to the 2024 HIDI Premier Data Package should review the package information. Current subscribers with questions about downloading files should contact HIDI.

Staff Contact: Becky Boyce

Ryan Geib is serving as the president of Mercy Southeast Communities, effective April 30. Geib has been transitioning into the role recently held by Ken Bateman. Bateman retires after serving as the CEO of Mercy Hospital Southeast, previously SoutheastHEALTH, since 2015.

Staff Contact: Becky Boyce

Robert Cannon, BJC HealthCare’s Group President, Eastern Region, will serve as the interim president of Barnes-Jewish St. Peter’s Hospital and Progress West Hospital. He replaces Gina Calder, who has been the president of the two hospitals since February 2021

Staff Contact: Kara Amann-Kale

Hospital Incident Command System training is more important than ever, considering the escalating frequency of cybersecurity threats, and the evolving challenges posed by prolonged recovery efforts post-pandemic and ongoing supply chain disruptions. To support hospitals, MHA worked with All Clear Emergency Management Group to develop complimentary HICS training for operational and executive staff. Both tracks feature on-demand modules and live training.

The operational and executive level on-demand trainings are now available. The live, virtual executive level training will be held in July, and the in-person operational level training will be held at five locations around Missouri in August and October. View this flyer for additional information.