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Webinars Begin Next Week on New Opioid Safety Designation for Hospitals

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Cal Hospital Compare, a nonprofit performance reporting initiative, will launch an opioid safety designation program for hospitals later this month, intended to accelerate improvement and recognize California hospitals’ efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. A series of five no-cost webinars — the first to be held May 9 at 11 a.m. (PT) – will explain a self-assessment tool integral to the new designation, and will feature peer-to-peer learning on a variety of safe opioid practices.

New Tool Shows Regional Health Care Cost and Quality Benchmarks

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New research suggests that risk sharing appears to offer better value than fee-for-service arrangements. The California Regional Health Care Cost and Quality Atlas shows wide variance in quality and cost across California based on 2017 performance data for provider risk sharing arrangements; accountable care organizations; large, small, and self-insured employers; individually insured members; and commercial health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations.

A Target on the Back of California’s Hospitals

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A little more than a week ago, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that would reconfigure the calculations for the Medicare area wage index.

The area wage index is essential to ensure that hospitals’ resources for patient care reflect geographic disparities in labor costs. This is a particular concern for California’s hospitals given our state’s high labor costs (as an example, California pays the highest nurse salaries in the nation).

Pulling Care Out of Hospital—By Phone, Ambulance, and Good Ol’ House Calls.

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In the 20th century, hospitals completed their transformation from the hospice-like institutions of the Middle Ages, into large, gleaming centers of advanced medical expertise and technology that save and improve lives every day. But an unintended consequence of hospitals’ dazzling capabilities is a staggering cost burden that’s proving toxic to the American economy.

Today, hospital care accounts for approximately 33% of the US’ $3.5 trillion annual health care expenditures, according to CMS. The drivers of hospital costs are complex and hard to tackle, including (but not limited to) market consolidation that enables price hikes, heavy administrative burdens, expensive technology and patient usage patterns.

CMS Approves Cal MediConnect Extension Through 2022

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The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) last week received federal approval of a three-year extension of its Cal MediConnect (CMC) program, which provides coordinated services to patients who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.

EMSA Announces Stroke, STEMI Regulations Will Take Effect July 1

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The Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMSA) has released final regulations related to stroke critical care systems and ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) critical care systems. The regulations establish standard requirements for each type of system. CHA worked with members of its Emergency Medical Services/Trauma Committee to provide feedback to EMSA on these regulations, and is pleased to see them finalized. The regulations will take effect July 1.

EMSC Regulations Will Take Effect July 1

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New regulations from the Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMSA) establish standardized best practices for emergency medical services for children programs. CHA and member hospitals worked closely with EMSA’s Emergency Medical Services for Children Committee to produce regulations to provide quality care for children needing emergency services, and is pleased to see the regulation finalized. It will take effect July 1.

CHA Board Met April 25

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The CHA Board of Trustees met last week and engaged in an important conversation about health care affordability and the role hospitals could play in shaping this discussion at the state and federal levels. The board concluded that hospitals need to take a leadership role in contributing to an affordability solution, and directed CHA to work with legislative and regulatory leaders, as well as other stakeholders, to explore comprehensive alternatives that go further than simply reducing reimbursement. 

Medicare for All government chokehold would be even worse than private insurance: Doctor

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Before Medicare for All could ever enter the American doctor’s office, several economic and medical mountains would have to be moved.

First, the transition to a plan like the one Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed would be enormously expensive, more than $30 trillion over a 10-year period by some estimates.

Second, because the program bans private insurance, it would displace nearly 177 million people from their health insurance plans, including over 156 million from employer-based health insurance — which for many employees is the reason they took the job in the first place.