What’s happening: On March 13 from 10-11:30 a.m. (PT), the Hospital Quality Institute (HQI) is hosting the What Leaders Should Know: Actionable Suicide Prevention Strategies webinar.
What else to know: Attendees will gain practical strategies for initiating supportive conversations with those who may be struggling and learn about vital resources available to help. Registration is open.
What’s happening: On March 4, the Department of Health Care Access and Information’s (HCAI) Seismic Compliance Unit is hosting a webinar from 10 a.m. to noon (PT) on Assembly Bill (AB) 869 (2024). The webinar will cover seismic compliance, eligibility criteria for extensions beyond the 2030 deadline, and HCAI’s activities related to AB 869 implementation.
What else to know: AB 869 allows for the Distressed Hospital Loan Program, as well as small, rural, critical access, or health care district hospitals, to apply for a delay to the Jan. 1, 2030, seismic compliance deadline by up to three years. Webinar registration is open.
What’s happening: The Department of Health Care Access and Information’s (HCAI) new Hospital Equity Toolkit supports hospitals’ reporting of health equity-related data, as required under Assembly Bill (AB) 1204 (2021).
As a federal debate heats up over legislation that could bring historic cuts to Medicare and Medicaid (Medi-Cal), it’s essential that California’s federal representatives hear from hospital leaders about how these cuts would devastate both access to health care and hospitals struggling to deliver vital health services.
What’s happening: Effective Feb. 14, providers are required to issue a Medicare Change of Status Notice (MCSN) to eligible patients who were admitted as hospital inpatients, but the hospital subsequently reclassified them as outpatients who are receiving observation services.
What else to know: This requirement only applies to patients with traditional Medicare as the primary payer. The form and its instructions are available to download.
What’s happening: The Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) recently released an advisory guide for new construction of acute psychiatric hospitals, psychiatric nursing units provided within general acute care hospitals, and special treatment programs within skilled-nursing facilities — and remodeling or alterations to existing structures of this kind.
What else to know: The advisory guide includes new structural requirements; basic and supplemental services; and mechanical, engineering, and plumbing requirements.
What’s happening: Hospital Quality Assurance Fee (HQAF) program 8 fees for the Jan. 1-June 30, 2023, managed care directed payment cycle are due March 7 — and the invoice will be 15% higher than the modeled fee amount.
What else to know: The fee is increased because the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is repaying the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for inpatient upper payment limit (UPL) overages incurred in HQAF program 6 — and CMS directed DHCS to repay immediately without any flexibility.
What’s happening: To address the chronic health care provider shortage in its counties, the County Medical Services Program (CMSP) Governing Board has released a request for proposals (RFP) for its new Building the Healthcare Workforce (BHW) grant program. The application deadline is April 1 at 3 p.m. (PT).
What else to know: This BHW grant program may support or expand such health care workforce groups as primary care, nursing, behavioral health, dental, allied health, and public health, to name a few. Visit the governing board’s website to download the RFP and associated forms, and submit proposals to grants@cmspcounties.org.
What’s happening: On March 10-11 — in less than three weeks — California’s rural hospital industry partners, policymakers, and C-suite health care professionals will gather in Sacramento for CHA’s Rural Health Care Symposium, where they’ll connect on critical issues shaping rural health care.
What else to know: Registration for this two-day event is open to CHA member hospitals.
What’s happening: CHA DataSuite issued a hospital-specific analysis of the Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program, which is based on the most recent publicly available data and program rules established by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The analysis is intended to give hospitals a preview of the potential impact of the federal fiscal year (FFY) 2026 VBP program.
What else to know: Comparison to the FFY 2025 program performance is limited as CMS has not yet made final measure and domain level scores available.
Beginning FFY 2026, hospitals will be awarded health equity adjustment (HEA) bonus points for excellent care of underserved populations based on their performance in the four evaluated domains, as well as their percentage of full-dually-eligible patients. An HEA estimate is included in this analysis. There will be winners and losers due to the HEA, as the program slope changes with the additional bonus points.