AHA weighs in on rehab facility PPS, 75 percent rule
The American Hospital Association is urging regulatory action on the “75 percent rule” in the proposed rule for the inpatient rehabilitation facility prospective payment system. The organization, in a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said CMS should identify the clinical characteristics of patients who fall outside the qualifying conditions and appropriate for hospital-level inpatient rehabilitation. The rule requires inpatient rehab facilities to prove that 75 percent of their patients have one of 13 diagnoses. Otherwise, the facility risks losing all reimbursement from Medicare for all hospital admissions in that fiscal year. The AHA is also concerned about the pending termination next July of the rule’s comorbidities provision, which enables rehab patients to counter under the rule based on selected, secondary medical characteristics. AHA wants CMS to permanently include comorbidities among qualifying cases.
American Indian health center financing planned
NCB Capital Impact, along with 12 private and public partners, has arranged $10 million in below-market financing for the Seven Directions Mixed-Use Facility in Oakland. The new 26,000-square-foot facility will expand on the current facility, located two blocks away, and will increase access to health services for American Indians and Alaska natives. Ground was broken for the project last month; it’s expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Methodist Hospital System selects athenahealth
The Methodist Hospital System in Houston has selected athenahealth’s practice management and billing services for its physician organization, which represents nearly 200 physicians. The organization’s physicians also will be using the Sunrise ambulatory care offering of the Eclipsys Corp. as part of a new integrated and financial ambulatory care to better connect its healthcare enterprise.
UCLA opens earthquake-safe replacement facility
UCLA last month unveiled its Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, calling it among the first total-replacement hospital projects to meet California’s latest seismic safety requirements, passed after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. I.M. Pei designed the 10-story medical facility that UCLA calls “a contemporary, patient-focused healing environment.”