Summer’s End
Guest Post from Deborah L. Benzil, MD, FACS, FAANS Chair, AANS/CNS Communications and Public Relations Committee Care Mount Medical Group Columbia University Medical Center Mt Kisco, New York Summer’s End Apples crisp and red fill Farmer’s Markets School corridors echo with new shoe squeak Cooling evenings draw in fast while Gridirons fill with collegiate cheer […]
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Guest Post from Alan Scarrow, MD, FAANS President of Mercy Clinic Springfield, MO On May 22, 2014, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius, issued a decision that settlements arrived under so-called “apology and disclosure laws” were reportable to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). Laws are written […]
The Importance of Quality Neurosurgery Data
Guest Post from J. Todd Barnes, MBA, CMPE Administrator Dept.’s of Neurology and Neurosurgery University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Given the quantum changes that are happening to the healthcare system in the United States, there has never been more of a need for quality data in almost every facet of neurological surgery. Public and […]
Double D.O.A.: The Obama and Ryan Budget Proposals
In March, President Obama released the Administration’s proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Budget. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) portion allocated $1 trillion in outlays and proposed $77.1 billion in discretionary budget authority, $0.8 billion less than the 2014 enacted level and $3 billion less than last year’s request. Of significance to many […]
Draft Framework for Repealing the SGR: The Cure May be Worse than the Disease
On Halloween, the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees released a bipartisan, bicameral draft proposal to repeal and replace Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. The proposal would permanently repeal the SGR update mechanism, reform the fee-for-service payment system through greater focus on value over volume, and encourage participation in alternative payment models. […]
HHS Office of Inspector General Issues Opinion Regarding On-Call Payments to Physicians
In recent years, issues have arisen as to whether hospitals could make payments to physicians for providing on-call coverage for the hospital’s emergency department as such payments might violate the anti-kickback statute. Well, it seems the ambiguity surrounding this idea has recently been cleared up by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of […]