Last week, a federal district court
ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
exceeded its statutory authority when it implemented a 30%
reduction to 2019 Medicare reimbursement rates — included in the
federal fiscal year (FFY) 2019 outpatient prospective payment
system (OPPS) final rule — for certain pharmaceutical drugs
covered by the 340B Drug Pricing Program.
Yesterday, CHA issued a
news release on Gov. Newsom’s revised 2019-20 state budget.
CHA applauds the Governor for making investments that improve
Californians’ health and well-being, including: ongoing support
for expanding Medi-Cal coverage to young adults, regardless of
immigration status; imposing a state-level individual coverage
mandate; broader premium subsidies for low and middle-income
families; and significant investments in behavioral health.
On April 16, the California Emergency Medical Services Authority
announced that six entities had been awarded between $1.5 and
$4.9 million dollars to develop and implement interoperable
health information exchange (HIE) between emergency ambulance
service providers and hospitals/electronic health records via
health information exchange organizations (HIOs).
A CHA-supported bill that would allow nurse practitioners (NPs)
to practice to the full extent of their education and training –
AB 890 (Wood,
D-Santa Rosa) – passed the Assembly Committee on Business and
Professions today.
CHA member hospitals today gathered in Sacramento for a Lobby
Action Day (photo
gallery) to urge legislators to support Senate Bill
758 (Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge), a bill that will be
amended to give hospitals the flexibility they need to tailor
post-disaster care to meet the unique needs of their communities.
Today’s event followed a
radio interview that CHA President & CEO Carmela Coyle
participated in yesterday about a new
report that says current seismic requirements may be outdated
and prohibitively expensive.
In response to providers’
recent challenges implementing new requirements for opioid
prescriptions, the governor has signed into law a bill that
allows a transition period before the requirements become
effective.
Yesterday, the American Hospital Association (AHA) released
updated resources for its 340B Good Stewardship Principles. To
date, more than 60 percent of California’s 340B hospitals have
signed on to the AHA commitment.
In an effort to help reduce the stigma around behavioral health issues, CHA has released a new video featuring five accomplished health care executives who have faced mental health challenges. The powerful “truth telling” video is the product of the keynote session at CHA’s recent Behavioral Health Symposium.
Computers were as good or better than doctors at detecting tiny
lung cancers on CT scans, in a study by researchers from Google
and several medical centers.
The technology is a work in progress, not ready for widespread
use, but the new
report, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine,
offers a glimpse of the future of artificial intelligence in
medicine.
One of the most promising areas is recognizing patterns and
interpreting images — the same skills that humans use to read
microscope slides, X-rays, M.R.I.s and other medical scans.
Behavioral health diagnoses ballooned over the past decade as
more youths cope with mental health and substance abuse issues,
according to a new analysis of private health insurance claims.
Behavioral health cases increased 108% from 2007 to 2017, rising
from 1.3% to 2.7% of all medical claim lines, the not-for-profit
Fair Health’s analysis of 28 billion claims found. The share
of claims for those age 22 or younger with major depressive
disorder, the most common diagnosis, increased from 15% to 23%
over that span.
In 1900, the average life expectancy in the United States was
just 47.3 years. Today, it is 78.6,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and
many people will outstrip that average.
But is that advance really worthwhile if it only means more time
feeling old and infirm? In a feature
article online and in the May 20 edition of the New Yorker,
Adam Gopnik talks to researchers and innovators trying to make
old age feel younger.
It’s a tricky paradox: More life doesn’t necessarily equate to
more youth. And as Gopnik reports, senior citizens actually hate
products that could improve their lives but are clearly designed
for older people.
Across the country, many doctors, nurses and other health care
workers have remained silent about what is being called an
epidemic of violence against them.
The violent outbursts come from patients and patients’ families.
And for years, it has been considered part of the job.
When you visit the Cleveland Clinic emergency department —
whether as a patient, family member or friend — a large sign
directs you toward a metal detector.
For decades, millions of patients have been taking a daily
aspirin in an attempt to prevent hearts attacks and strokes. But
in March 2019, the American College of Cardiology and the
American Heart Association
released guidelines declaring healthy adults with an average
risk for heart disease receive no overall benefit from a daily
aspirin.
In simple terms, aspirin, or acetylsalicylic acid, is now
“low-value medical care.”
The term has been coined to classify tests and medications that
are ineffective and provide no benefit to a patient’s medical
care. Instead, low-value care can actually expose patients to
harm, shift the focus away from beneficial care and result in
unnecessary costs to the patient and the health-care system.
The health insurance inflation rate hit a five-year peak in
April, possibly because managed care is rising.
The Consumer Price Index for health insurance in April spiked
10.7% over the previous 12 months—the largest increase since at
least April 2014, according to a Modern Healthcare analysis of
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ unadjusted monthly Consumer
Price Index data.
In contrast, the other categories that make up the medical care
services index—professional services and hospital and related
services—rose 0.4% and 1.4% in April, respectively. The CPI for
medical care services in April rose 2.3%, while overall inflation
increased 2% year over year.
Most states are keeping a close eye on opioid overdose deaths,
but they may need to start focusing on cocaine and other
stimulants as well.
It turns out that the same lethal drug that has been driving the
nation’s spiraling opioid epidemic is also causing an historic
surge in overdose deaths among cocaine users.
That’s according to a new
analysis of death certificate data from the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention showing that fentanyl — a
cheap synthetic opioid that is a hundred times more potent than
morphine — and other opioids were involved in nearly
three-fourths of all cocaine overdose deaths and an increasing
number of methamphetamine deaths.
Suicide rates for young girls are rising at a pace faster than
that of boys, changing the established patterns that boys are
more likely to die by suicide and that girls are more likely to
consider it and attempt it, according to a new study.
Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in in Columbus,
Ohio analyzed suicide rates of US kids and teens ages 10 to 19
between 1975 and 2016 using the Wide-ranging Online Data for
Epidemiologic Research database, run by the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
In that period, there were more than 85,000 suicides in kids and
teens, with 80% in boys and 20% in girls. The rates of suicide
peaked in 1993 and had been on the decline until 2007, when they
again started to climb, according to the findings, published
Friday in
JAMA.
A new report, “Meeting the Demand for Health,” outlines the need
for a statewide infrastructure designed to produce a steady
pipeline of professionals who can care for California’s growing
and aging population.
Nearly 50 of California’s hospital and health system leaders
trekked almost 3,000 miles to D.C. to share with members of
Congress the legislative changes they need to successfully meet
their mission of care back home.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA) has released a series of resources intended to help
providers incorporate, in their disaster planning, strategies to
care for patients with serious mental illness.
CHA’s latest guidebook, Discharge Planning for Homeless
Patients, explains California’s new homeless patient
discharge planning law and offers insights to help hospitals
prepare to return homeless patients to the community.
Location:
May 23, Oakland
June 6, Sacramento June 6, New Live Stream Option
Consent for treatment decisions often must be made quickly and may carry significant ramifications for patients, their families and your hospital. Ever-changing regulations further complicate matters.
May 21, 2019
3:30 – 5:00 p.m., Pacific Time
A complimentary, CHA members-only webinar
Measles has recently reemerged and risen to outbreak status in several states, including California. This year, there have been four outbreaks of measles linked to international travel in California, with 44 confirmed cases of measles, to date. The resurgence of this highly contagious disease has resulted in hospitals reevaluating their protocols ― both from the patient care and employee safety perspectives — as the disease can turn up in any county at any time.
On July 1, 2019, SB 1152 requires hospitals to have a written plan for coordinating services and referrals for homeless patients. Successful implementation will hinge upon working with your regional health care and social service agencies to ensure appropriate homeless patient discharge. Further, the law requires that hospitals maintain a log of homeless patients discharged and the destinations to which they were released after discharge.
There are 58 counties in California. Not all of them have similar protocols or relationships with our hospitals. In fact, California hospitals have reported frustration or confusion when trying to decipher county mental health and substance use disorder services. Navigating multiple funding streams across multiple counties can be confusing.
June 19, 2019
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., Pacific Time
A technique we have seen payers use more commonly in recent months than in the past is to unilaterally implement policies and guidelines through provider manuals that arguably change the coverage, steerage, and/or reimbursement of key healthcare services for their members. These policy changes oftentimes have material effects on the amounts hospitals actually receive under their contracts. Providers seldom have any input into these revisions, and they are frequently imposed on providers with little or no notice.
CHA’s Disaster Planning for California Hospitals conference is the largest statewide conference developed by and for California hospitals. Mark your calendars for this annual event where you will bolster your emergency preparedness knowledge and learn about innovative programs, tools and lessons learned from across the industry.
Throughout the year, CHA offers numerous programs designed to
meet the needs of hospital executives. Whether you work in human
resources, risk management, reimbursement, disaster planning or
plant operations we are likely to have a program that will help
you do your best for your facility.
CHA’s EMTALA Manual explains the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to minimize risk and help hospitals avoid lawsuits. The manual is full of sample scenarios and answers to hundreds of real-world questions, and provides practical guidance to hospitals, physicians, and nurses to simplify compliance with patient anti-dumping laws.
The 2018 edition has been updated to reflect five more years’ experience with the law, and:
CHA’s Hospital Compliance Manual is the only publication written for hospital compliance officers that integrates California with federal law on high-risk compliance areas. Written by Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, PC, and CHA, the manual focuses on high-risk compliance issues and the key components of an effective compliance program.
This comprehensive resource addresses all state and federal laws related to the privacy of health information, and provides guidance to help hospitals comply with increasingly complex regulations. Laws covered include:
