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As a result of CHA’s sponsored legislation, Assembly Bill 2798 (Maienschein, 2018), the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has created an online portal for hospital submission of licensure applications.
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Multiple Congressional and Senate committees announced proposals this week to address the issue of patients receiving unexpected medical bills. While details have yet to be disclosed, two of the proposals would impose a benchmark rate that insurers would pay hospitals. Yesterday, CHA and the California Medical Association issued a joint media statement urging Congress to oppose benchmark rate setting, emphasizing that it will threaten access to care rather than protect patients.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a memorandum announcing that electronic Form CMS-10455, Report of a Hospital Death Associated with the Use of Restraint or Seclusion, has replaced the paper version of the form. As of Dec. 2, hospitals can submit the reports electronically online here.
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Behavioral health care professionals gathered Dec. 9-10 in Riverside for the 14th annual Behavioral Health Care Symposium, which featured sessions on managing change, breaking stigma, breaking down transfer barriers, and CEOs answering the question, “What keeps you up at night?” (See photo gallery)
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The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has issued All Facilities Letter (AFL) 19-38 requesting a designated emergency contact for all health facilities, as well as a designated contact to receive AFLs. To provide information, submit it through the department’s emergency contact survey site.
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This year’s California Hospital Volunteer Leadership Conference — to be held Feb. 17-19, 2020, at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach — will feature a timely, practical session on implementing department processes that will help ensure compliance The Joint Commission’s standards.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released the following information:
Use Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs) To Avoid Claims Rejection
OASIS Considerations for Medicare PDGM Patients – Transition
LTCH Provider Preview Reports Available
IRF Provider Preview Reports Available
Quarterly IRF Compare Quarterly Refresh Available
Quarterly LTCH Compare Refresh Available
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CHA acknowledges the 20th anniversary of To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System – the clarion call for patient safety – with an op-ed recognizing all California hospitals have done to respond over the last two decades, and their continued commitment to quality improvement.
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Earlier this week, we asked California’s hospital leaders to raise their voices to urge congressional leaders not to set a benchmark rate as a way of addressing surprise billing.
The need to push back arose late last week after committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives announced they had reached an agreement on legislation to tackle the high-profile issue of consumers receiving surprise medical bills. The package — which could be voted on as soon as next week — includes both a benchmark rate and an independent dispute resolution process for claims over a certain amount.
Fortunately, on Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Committee offered another bipartisan alternative. As Congress grapples with this important issue, it’s more important that they thoughtfully consider all of the complexities than rush to a hastily crafted legislative solution.
Thank you to all who have already reached out to your representatives, helping to continue the drumbeat we began last year to make clear to lawmakers that hospitals support eliminating surprise billing, but that fixed “benchmark” rates are not the right solution and threaten critical resources for patients.
Protecting patients is what hospitals do, so for you as leaders, it’s simple: People seeking necessary medical care should be protected from unexpected bills, and no patient should ever pay more for emergency care just because their insurance company chooses not to contract with a hospital. Giving patients the peace of mind to heal includes removing them from payment negotiations between insurers and providers, and creating safeguards from the gaps in insurance that result in surprise bills.
We need to keep reminding policymakers that, while benchmark rates offer financial protections for insurers, they offer none at all for consumers.
As leaders, you also know that caring for patients includes protecting their access to care. It is incumbent on all of us to make sure Congress understands that creating a benchmark payment rate threatens access – both by reducing available resources and by giving health plans less incentive to enlist facilities and physicians in their networks.
What lawmakers need to do – and they need our help – is to prevent patients who have received needed health care services from getting surprise bills for that care. Once that assurance is in place, payments made from the insurer to the provider become irrelevant to patients.
As we learn more about details of the different federal proposals, we will share them with you. This issue, of vital importance to patients and hospitals alike, requires our vigilance now and in the near future.
We cannot afford to miss a beat.
— Carmela
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California Hospital Association (CHA) President & CEO Carmela Coyle and California Medical Association (CMA) CEO Dustin Corcoran have issued the following joint statement on congressional efforts to address surprise medical billing: