Medicare: The Gift That Keeps On Giving0

This article was first published at Corporate Compliance Insights on September 5, 2014.

iStock_000010996009Small“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.”  — Dante Alighieri

The end of summer brings with it change across the United States.  Children and many young adults prepare themselves for the new school year, professional baseball players set their sights on what has come to be known as the Fall Classic, and foliage undergoes the first stages of fall’s impending metamorphosis. For America’s health care professionals, August has also become synonymous with the release of the final rule from the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), which covers the Medicare Program’s Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals (“IPPS”), and sets the rules of the game for those in the field, at least for another year.

Including such updates to the hospital IPPS for operating and capital-related costs as CMS continues to implement the Affordable Care Act, changes relating to graduate medical education (“GME”) and indirect medical education (“IME”) payments, revisions to the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (“VBP”) Program, the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (“HRRP”), and the Hospital-Acquired Condition (“HAC”) Reduction Program, technical corrections to the provider administrative appeals and judicial review process, expanded use of Medicare Advantage (“MA”) risk adjustment data, not to mention the alignment of reporting and submission timelines for quality measures within the Medicare E.H.R. Incentive Program and IQR Program, this is one millenary regulation not to be missed. For those who may shy away from such Federal Register epics, the following is a brief overview of two critical topics. … Read more →

Medicare: The Perpetual Balance Between Performance and Preservation0

This article was first published in the Journal of Contemporary Health law & Policy on August 1, 2014.

iStock_000039923254Medium“Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood.” — Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn

Passed by Congress and signed by President Lyndon Johnson into law in 1965, Medicare has weathered storms from all directions, growing to be the preeminent standard for health insurance in the United States.  The idea of losing Medicare as a vital public benefit still remains the single greatest fear with which each passing generation of Americans must contend, and yet, these challenges over the past fifty years, designed to fortify Medicare’s foundation and ensure its longevity, continue to take a toll on the program.

The most recent climate of reform includes changes implemented by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”).  The PPACA is designed to expand coverage for a broader group of people, yet it adds unprecedented layers of complexity such that it may be but a matter of time before the confusion experienced by today’s providers proves to be Medicare’s undoing altogether.  The decades of trial and error upon which health care in the United States have been built, at least from the point of view of both physicians and lawmakers who watch from the sidelines, may give way to confusion and disruption industry-wide as a result of newly enacted regulations.

Today, Medicare is the preeminent standard for health insurance in the United States, expanding despite fluctuations in the economic, political and social climate since its initial passage.  However, in its struggle toward sustainability, the Medicare Program must understand the resulting consequences as it distances itself further and further from its original simplicity in 1965.

Medicare’s original cost-based system gave way in the 1980s to the Prospective Payment System (“PPS”), an event noted by many with great concern.  Under PPACA, the Medicare system takes another monumental step as it incorporates elements of performance into the PPS.  Formulaic and confusing, Medicare’s recent approach to provider reimbursement has been likened to Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce, a book that some critics warn requires “skeleton keys” to understand.  In many ways, the need for hospitals and physicians to understand these performance-based measures may seem less important when fear of Medicare insolvency looms in the distance,13 especially as it relates to Medicare Part A (hospital insurance benefits for inpatient services) and Medicare Part B (supplemental insurance for outpatient services, among other things).  Irrespective of the fleeting grasp providers may have over PPACA’s new Medicare system, hospitals and physicians alike are mindful that the PPS as they once knew it is gone, replaced in part with the beginnings of a performance-based Medicare in which they may lose precious revenue, one percentage point at a time.

The entire article can be viewed here.

Health Care Reform Without a Revolution0

This article was first published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal on July 9, 2014.

iStock_000003498126MediumHealth care reform is insignificant in comparison to the fundamental purpose of the system it must change. Unlike a terminal illness, which doubles as a harbinger to remind us of the inescapable permanence of death, much of the influence of health care reform over which the nation has debated these past four years will prove to be fleeting at best. Time will shape and reshape the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in ways outside today’s imagination, but the hospital bed, that symbolic and functional centerpiece of American health care, will never be anyone’s destination of choice.

The transformation of Medicare from its humble origins in 1965 into the template for American health care’s payer system was certainly no small feat, although maintaining the Part B premiums at Medicare’s original price tag of $3.00 per month never stood a chance. Whether as a result of Medicare’s effect or in spite of it, advances in medicine since 1965 have played a large part in the program’s evolution, with today’s emphasis on performance in lieu of costs standing as a reflection of an inherent expectation that modern medicine should have the twofold intention to never do harm and excel at all times. Perhaps ACA’s greatest achievement is that it has granted an aura of entitlement to all hospital patients, for now society has not only come to expect quality medical care at any time, it also expects this service free of charge. … Read more →

The Light at the End of the Tunnel . . . or Cliff0

 This article was published on June 5, 2014, in Corporate Compliance Insights.

iStock_000000261863Small“Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.”  — Francis Bacon

With each passing day health care reform in America gains momentum, even as the chasm between successful and unsuccessful providers continues to expand. Earlier this month, the Federal Government tested the fortitude of the system when it released thousands of regulatory pages explaining the many ways in which Medicare providers will get paid and penalized over the next few years.  Eagerly awaited by those in the field, the 2015 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System regulations for acute care hospitals lives up to all expectations as it journeys through the labyrinth created by such diffuse entities as the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program, the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, and the Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program.  Not to disappoint its devoted readers, the Powers That Be issued regulations the same week for skilled nursing facilities, inpatient psychiatric facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, hospices, and federally qualified health centers. … Read more →

Virtual Round Table – Healthcare Law 20140

Screen Shot 2014-05-28 at 5.15.03 PM“In this roundtable we spoke with six experts from around the world to discuss the latest changes and developments in Healthcare. Our chosen experts discuss key topics including the advance of cloud computing, common litigation issues and possible measures to maximise efficiency in the delivery of healthcare services.”
View interactive round table on Corporate Livewire.

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Lessons Learned from Dial-Up0

This article was first published in the Daily Journal on May 15, 2014.

iStock_000013044243MediumIn the largest cities across the U.S., locating an Internet connection has become as easy as finding a cup of coffee. In modern times, however, the ability to effectively communicate in business is inextricably connected to the rate by which one is able to transfer data. Like a bad cup of coffee, we may tolerate a slow connection when options are limited, but no one really enjoys it. Lessons from both support the notion that we not only prefer quality speed, but it also improves our performance at work.

If bit rates are the standard measurement for telecommunications, hospital beds present the equivalent in health care. … Read more →

What Are We Fighting to Reform?0

This article was first published in California Healthcare News on May 6, 2014.

IMG_2220“Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.”  — Vladimir Nabokov

As in baseball, the history of war favors the home team, especially when the home team prevails.  Not surprisingly, those who come in second place on the battlefield have little say in the telling of the tale. What became of the Ottoman and Austria-Hungarian Empires receives anecdotal attention, though those who live in Istanbul, Vienna and Budapest remember the Great War much like the City of Buffalo remembers Scott Norwood. So, too, will the success or failure of America’s struggle to provide universal health care be decided in the grand scheme, with little thought given to the smaller scale of unfortunate losses incurred upon the way. … Read more →

Spring 2014 – Special Edition Newsletter0

Special Edition — April 1, 2014

Federal Government Drops Acronyms in Favor of Dewey Decimal System

Last week the United States Department of Health and Human Services announced all federal health care agencies will abandon the use of acronyms concurrently with the upcoming implementation of the tenth revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.  With more than 16,000 codes and sub-codes, this latest version leaves little room for the use of what many industry insiders view as health care’s arcane acronyms, favoring instead a more numerical approach…Read more

Another Healthcare Crisis: Closing Hospitals0

This Op-ed appeared in the Los Angeles Times on February 26, 2014.

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Lower Oconee Community Hospital in southern Georgia closed its doors this month, eliminating 25 hospital beds and up to 100 hospital jobs. This was the fourth Georgia hospital to fold in two years and the eighth rural hospital in the state to close since 2000. Although Lower Oconee’s shutdown may not have registered much media coverage, those in search of medical attention in Glenwood, Ga., should be mindful that the closest hospital is now 30 miles away. As reference, Santa Ana  is 30 miles from Los Angeles. When faced with a medical emergency, no one fancies a long road trip. … Read more →

Regulatory Compliance Has No Speed Traps0

This article was first published on Corporate Compliance Insights on February 26, 2014.

iStock_000000906033Medium“A truth that’s told with bad intent / Beats all the lies you can invent.”  — William Blake

Formed through legislation signed by President Gerald Ford in 1976, the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) is one federal agency that should never be underestimated by those in the health care industry. In its pursuit to protect the integrity of health care programs and the welfare of their beneficiaries, the OIG boasts the power to determine the fate of most health care providers through standards both objective (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7(a) – Mandatory Exclusions) and subjective (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7(b) – Permissive Exclusions). While those unfortunate enough to find themselves on the List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE) may at times disagree, the pellucidity with which the OIG enforces its statutory directive is in perfect alignment with the transparency through which the agency insists providers conduct their business. … Read more →