FINANCE ARCHIVES
NEWS ARCHIVES
4/29/2008::
A
detailed analysis by the American Hospital
Association and
another by Lawrence Goldberg with Grant
Thornton on
CMS's
FFY 2009 inpatient hospital prospective
payment system proposed rule are
available were posted today. CMS predicts an overall 3% update
to payment rates with reductions to the
increase to account for coding creep and
additional reductions to
hospitals that do not submit quality data,
including a proposed 43 new quality
measures.
The rule also proposes to update the
calculation of the IHPPS area wage index
calculation and adds nine "hospital-acquired
conditions."
DRGs with the largest shift in weights.
Comments are due June 13.
4/18/2008::
OHA this
week issued a
Member Bulletin with a detailed
analysis of the Healthcare
Simplification Act (House Bill 125),
which will take effect June 25 OHA
supports the bill and will continue
advocating for stronger most favored
nation clause statutes.
3/18/2008:: The requirements of the
Lobbying Expenditure Law requires OHA to
notify its membership of the percentage
of membership dues related to lobbying
activities that would be non-deductible
under the law. View
OHA letter for more information.
2/28/2008::
Hospitals affected by the
OHA lawsuit against the Ohio Bureau of
Workers Compensation should receive notices
and listings of claims from the Bureau today
via email. Addressed to hospital chief
financial officers,
the Bureau communication includes
spreadsheets with detailed information
about the affected claims and estimated
adjustment amounts. BWC has set up an email
box,
HospitalFeeAdjustments@bwc.state.oh.us, to handle hospital
questions and comments.
2/20/2008::
OHA is seeking
data and compelling stories from hospitals
for its 2008 community benefit report,
scheduled to be unveiled at a news
conference June 10. As recommended by the
OHA Board Task Force on Community Benefits,
OHA on Feb.
1 released a
simple, electronic survey of five data
elements, three of them--Medicaid
loss or profit, charity care and community
benefit activities--will be
included in the OHA statewide aggregate
report as community benefits, and
two--Medicare
losses not attributed to medical education
and bad debt--will be listed
as additional uncompensated care. OHA
is asking hospitals to supply their own
numbers from 2006 reports or audited
financial statements, but, excluding
the data element
on community benefit activities, OHA will
itself calculate the number hospital
that is unable
based on formula that are available on
request.
Additional information on the 2008 OHA
Community Benefit survey is available from
Charles Cataline.
OHA also
needs help illustrating what hospitals
really mean to their communities –
looking beyond traditional community benefit
activities such as health fairs to show the
life-saving research, vital training of
future caregivers, subsidized health care
services and more that hospitals offer.
Hospitals are urged to share information,
photos and stories with
Mary
Sterenberg for
possible inclusion in the report.
2/15/2008::
In a public
hearing today, OHA and the Ohio Children’s
Hospital Association (OCHA) issued joint
testimony opposing the two-year Medicaid
inpatient hospital rate freeze proposed by
the Ohio Department of Job and Family
Services. View a copy of the
full testimony. View a related
HEALTH e-NEWS Plus article.
2/12/2008::
OHA has reached an
agreement between HTP Inc and OHA Solutions
to create a new model for revenue cycle
management that helps hospitals initiate
patient financial planning assistance for
the insured, uninsured, and underinsured
resulting in lower bad debt, better patient
charity care qualification and maximize and
increased net revenue. OHA Solutions sent an
e-mail to hospital CFOs this week with
additional information.
View a related news release
2/04/2008::
President
Bush today released a budget proposal that
includes $182 billion in Medicare reductions
and $17.4 billion in Medicaid reductions
over 5 years. These cutbacks would fall on
top of a continued freeze in Medicaid
reimbursement at the state level, creating
dangerous shortfalls in Medicaid and
Medicare reimbursement to hospitals. A
review of the proposal is available to
OHA members. OHA members can also contact
Berna Bell
for
hospital-specific analyses.
2/01/2008:: A new
edition of the OHA Hospital Law
Handbook is now available. The
handbook is a compendium of select Ohio
statutes and regulations applicable to
hospitals, physicians, nurses and other
health care workers. The new edition
consists of more than 900
pages, organized into 11 chapters, with
the approximately 950 statutes and
regulations current to Jan. 1, 2008. OHA
will identify changes to the handbook
through postings on the OHA web site.
The cost is $100 for OHA members and
$150 for nonmembers. View
ordering information.
1/23/2008:: The
2008 federal poverty income guidelines
were published in the
federal register
today. Updated annually by the US Dept. of
Health & Human Services, the guidelines are
used in a variety of ways to judge
eligibility for discounted health care
programs, including the
Ohio
Hospital Care Assurance Program.
12/18/2007:: The
U.S. Senate passes the Medicare, Medicaid
and S-CHIP Extension Act of 2007.
Highlights include a 0.5% Medicare payment
update for physicians through June 2008,
extension of S-CHIP funding at current
levels through March 2009 and no PPS payment
cuts for hospitals. Both the House and the
President are expected to support the
measure.
Additional details. |
