Advisories

Medicare Outpatient PPS and ASC Final Rule for 2009

November 24, 2008 On October 30, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the outpatient prospective payment system (PPS) and ambulatory surgical center (ASC) final rule for calendar year 2009.
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AHA Media Advisory

November 03, 2008 Recent attention in the media has refocused the public's attention on executive compensation. With this renewed interest, it is critical that your hospital is prepared to respond to public and media inquiries around the compensation of your top executives.
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Mental Health Parity Bill (H.R. 1424)

October 31, 2008 On October 3, President Bush signed into law a large financial rescue package that included mental health parity legislation (H.R. 1424).
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Reducing Healthcare-Associated Infections: A Compendium to Guide Efforts

October 30, 2008 The public, oversight bodies, payers and elected officials are forcefully articulating their expectations that America's health care providers increase their efforts to combat the spread of infections during the course of care.
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Long-anticipated Patient Safety Organization Program Begins

October 29, 2008 The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (Patient Safety Act) authorized the creation of Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs) to improve patient safety through the collection and analysis of health care provider data. Recently, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published interim guidance on how organizations can apply to become PSOs and how the information hospitals submit to these organizations will be protected as privileged and confidential
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New Hospital Accreditation Program Offers Hospitals More Choices

October 07, 2008 On September 26, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Healthcare Inc.'s accreditation program for hospitals seeking to participate in Medicare or Medicaid.
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Adoption of ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS

September 23, 2008 On August 15, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule to modify the medical data code set standards and adopt ICD-10-CM for coding of patient diagnoses and ICD-10-PCS for coding of hospital procedures.
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AHA Quality Advisory on Implementing Standardized Colors for Patient Alert Wristbands

September 04, 2008 America's hospitals are committed to delivering safe care. To alert caregivers to certain patient risks, many facilities use color-coded patient wristbands. However, if hospitals use different colors for these alerts, caregivers working in more than one facility may have difficulty always responding in the appropriate manner. Standardizing the colors of the wristbands used in hospitals is the sensible approach to improving patient safety, and many state hospital associations have already engaged their hospitals in this effort. As the national advocate for America's hospitals, the AHA is asking all hospitals to consider using three standardized colors for alert wristbands. The colors, which have been adopted as a consensus in numerous states, are: red for patient allergies; yellow for a fall risk; and purple for do-not-resuscitate patient preferences.
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IRS Releases Final Instructions to Form 990, Including Schedule H

August 21, 2008 On August 19, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released final instructions for the redesigned Form 990 and 16 related schedules, including Schedule H - Hospitals, designated solely for tax-exempt hospitals.
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Skilled Nursing Facilities: The Final Rule for FY 2009

August 20, 2008 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the August 8 Federal Register published the skilled nursing facility (SNF) prospective payment system final rule for fiscal year (FY) 2009.
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