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MHA Today

MHA Today is provided as a service to members of the Missouri Hospital Association.

Past issues are available in the Media Library.

In This Issue

MHA Requests Flexibilities For Pediatric Transport
CMS Releases Final CY 2023 Medicare Payment And Policy Updates
MHA Releases Guidance On Requesting Waivers And Variances
CDC, DHSS Release Health Alerts Related To Increased Respiratory Virus Activity
CDC Issues Health Alert On The Ebola Outbreak In Uganda
CMS Moves Claims-Based Measure Reports To HQR
Staff Spotlight: Yoshelin Medina

Advocacy

MHA Requests Flexibilities For Pediatric Transport

Staff Contact: Sarah Willson or Jane Drummond

MHA submitted a request to the Director of the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance asking the department to encourage payers to eliminate barriers to transportation of children to same or lower levels of inpatient care while hospitals are experiencing surge due to a stronger than expected RSV season. DHSS released a Health Advisory on RSV. MHA will continue to monitor the needs voiced by hospitals and advocate to eliminate barriers to appropriate care.

Regulatory

CMS Releases Final CY 2023 Medicare Payment And Policy Updates

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

Last week, CMS released final CY 2023 Medicare payment and policy updates for the Home Health PPS, End-Stage Renal Disease PPS, Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgical Center payment system, and Physician Fee Schedule. MHA published issue briefs for each of the rules. Highlights within the final rules are as follows.

Home Health PPS

Increase of 0.7%, or $125 million, as compared to CY 2022
Recalibrate the Patient-Driven Groupings Model and Low Utilization Payment Adjustment
Permanently implement a budget-neutral wage index reduction cap of 5%

ESRD PPS

Increase of 3.1% as compared to CY 2022
Permanently implement a budget-neutral wage index reduction cap of 5%
Finalize CY 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 ESRD Quality Incentive Program

OPPS and ASC

Increase OPPS payments by 3.8%, or $6.5 billion, as compared to CY 2022
Increase ASC payments by 3.8%, or $230 million, as compared to CY 2022
Increase payments for certain drugs purchased under the 340B program from average sales price minus 22.5% to ASP plus 6%
Revise OPPS and ASC Quality Reporting Program
Finalize IPPS and OPPS payment adjustment for domestic approved surgical N95 respirators
Finalize rural emergency hospital payment policies
Finalize CoPs for REHs
Finalize changes to the CAH CoPs

PFS

Allow professional counselors, as well as marriage and family therapists, to offer services under general rather than direct physician supervision
Codify policies in which Medicare Parts A and B pay for dental services when integral to treat a beneficiary’s medical condition
Decrease the PFS conversion factor from $33.61 in CY 2022 to $33.06 for CY 2023
Update the Quality Payment Program

MHA Releases Guidance On Requesting Waivers And Variances

Quality & Safety

CDC, DHSS Release Health Alerts Related To Increased Respiratory Virus Activity

Staff Contact: Keri Barclay or Kara Amann-Kale

The CDC released a health alert related to increased respiratory virus activity, especially in children. Of concern, the increase in respiratory viruses is earlier than normal and caused by the incident of multiple viruses, including RSV, influenzas, COVID-19 and others, resulting in a strain on the health care system. This health alert expands on a health alert released by the DHSS last week related to elevated RSV activity in the state.

CDC Issues Health Alert On The Ebola Outbreak In Uganda

Staff Contact: Keri Barclay or Kara Amann-Kale

The CDC released a health alert related to the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in Central Uganda. No cases have been reported in countries outside of Uganda, including the U.S., but due to the increase in case numbers, the CDC is raising awareness to the potential of importation of cases. The health alert provides additional information on the outbreak and recommendations for clinicians. Missouri hospitals are encouraged to review both their internal plans and the state Ebola response plan, and ensure front-line staff have awareness should a case present at their facility.

CMS Moves Claims-Based Measure Reports To HQR

Staff Contact: Sherry Buschjost

Effective Tuesday, Nov. 8, claims-based measure reports will move from the Managed File Transfer system to the Hospital Quality Reporting System. Hospitals will be able to download CBM reports from the claims-based measure page of the HQR System. After Nov. 8, CBM reports will be available via MFT only by request. A CMS tutorial regarding this new process is available.

Staff Spotlight

Yoshelin Medina

Yoshelin Medina is MHA’s grant management specialist, and she is celebrating 5 years of service. In this role, she supports grant-funded project deliverables, including project coordination and documentation requirements.

Yoshelin is proud to work at MHA because of the sense of community, open culture of communication and strong core purpose.

If she’s not cooking, baking or working on a DIY project, you can find Yoshelin camping or hiking with Austin and their dog Duke, catching up with family back in San Diego, or binge-watching a Netflix show.

Fun fact about Yoshelin: She was born in Puebla, Mexico, and recently became a U.S. Naturalized Citizen!

Before You Go

ACCESS:

The AHA and its Physician Alliance released a guide to help hospital and health system leaders prioritize and support a robust succession planning program for their organization, based on challenges and opportunities identified by their peers.
AONL published findings from its four-part longitudinal study on the impact of COVID-19 on nursing leadership. Staff emotional health and well-being, staff retention, and the cost of travel nursing were identified as the top three challenges facing nurse leaders.

ATTEND: Hospitals participating in the OQR Program can attend a webinar, “Counting on the Numbers: Understanding Your Facility Specific Report,” at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9. Registration is required.

MHA Today | November 7, 2022

MHA Today is provided as a service to members of the Missouri Hospital Association.

In This Issue

Before You Go