MHA Today | September 1, 2021

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

MHA prepared an analysis illustrating the financial effect of the final rule to the Medicare Inpatient Psychiatric Facility PPS updates for federal fiscal year 2022. In aggregate, Missouri will see a projected increase of 2.9%, amounting to an estimated $2.2 million. However, this rate increase does not take into account the Medicare sequestration payment reductions. The analysis, which is available online for authorized users of HIDI Analytic Advantage, includes a summary for the nation, Missouri, health systems and individual hospitals. Contacts for each IPF have been notified by email with the location of these reports within HIDI Analytic Advantage.

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

The Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds 2021 report has been released and reaffirms that the Medicare Part A trust fund will begin to fall short of its obligations in 2026. The estimate has remained unchanged since 2018.  According to the report, the Social Security trust fund will be able to meet its obligations until 2033, which is one year earlier than previously projected. MHA published an issue brief with further details.

Staff Contact: Shane VanOverschelde

The third-quarter federal fiscal year 2021 inpatient and outpatient databases, including HIDI-reporting hospitals in Missouri and Illinois, but excluding hospitals in Kansas City, Kansas, for the current quarter, now are available for download to subscribers of the Premier Data Package on HIDI Analytic Advantage. These databases will be updated to include the Kansas City, Kansas, hospital data for the current quarter in the coming weeks. The databases consist of a patient-level limited dataset, including all HIDI-reported discharges and visits to hospitals. Files are delivered as both text files and ready-to-query Microsoft Access database files. The files are located in “Strategic Planning/Premier Data” and are organized in the following categories.

• • Q3 FFY2021, Inpatient
  • Q3 FFY2021, Outpatient Classified
  • Q3 FFY2021, Outpatient Unclassified

Hospitals interested in subscribing to the 2021 HIDI Premier Data Package should review the package information. Current subscribers with questions about downloading files should contact HIDI.

Staff Contact: Shawn Billings

An article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association highlights the results of numerous strategies through which the National Institutes of Health’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative, is finding scientific solutions to address the nation’s opioid crisis. The task is even more urgent since the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a nearly 30% increase in overdose deaths in 2020, the highest 12-month increase in decades. To date, the initiative has funded $1.5 billion to more than 500 research projects to address opioid misuse and pain management.

The initiative includes efforts to develop more effective therapies for managing pain and treating opioid use disorder, test effective pain management strategies that limit addiction risk, and implement evidence-based OUD treatment in a variety of settings.

Staff Contact: Jill Williams

The National Health Service Corps “Students to Service” Loan Repayment Program application is open now through Thursday, Nov. 4. Individuals may qualify for up to $120,000 in tax-free loan repayment for medical, nursing or dental school student loans in exchange for a three-year service commitment in a high-need rural, tribal or urban community.