Average costs per inpatient day and the final rule for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act captured the attention of Becker's Hospital Review finance readers in 2016.
The following are among the most popular finance stories from Becker's this year.
1. Average cost per inpatient day across 50 states
The article lists the average costs per inpatient day in 2014, organized by hospital ownership type, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to statistics from Kaiser State Health Facts.
2. CMS releases MACRA final rule: 10 things to know
After a listening tour and nearly 4,000 public comments, CMS released the final rule for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, a landmark payment system for Medicare physician fees that replaces the sustainable growth rate formula.
3. CMS' final IPPS rule for 2017: 9 points to know
CMS issued its inpatient prospective payment systems final rule for fiscal year 2017 in August, which does away with the two-midnight rule's inpatient pay cuts.
4. 20 things to know about balance billing
As payers and providers wage war over reimbursement rates for medical services, patients have been increasingly strapped with unanticipated healthcare bills that can have detrimental financial effects.
5. 3 costly healthcare megatrends to watch in 2016
There are three trends that emerged in 2015 that also proved costly in 2016.
6. These 10 hospitals have the biggest surpluses — and they're mostly nonprofit
A small percentage of U.S. hospitals earned large profits from patient care services in 2013, and seven of the 10 most profitable were nonprofit hospitals, according to research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Washington and Lee University.
7. Fewer than a quarter of US hospitals on track to hit value-based payment goal, survey finds
Hospitals are slowly progressing toward CMS' goal of transitioning half of payments to value-based care models by 2018, a survey of healthcare executives from Health Catalyst revealed.
8. A state-by-state breakdown of 80 rural hospital closures
Of the 25 states that have seen at least one rural hospital close since 2010, those with the most closures are located in the South, according to research from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program.
9. CMS releases final OPPS rule for 2017: 11 things to know
CMS released its final 2017 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System rule in November, which implements site-neutral payment provisions of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.
10. 20 most costly inpatient conditions
Total aggregate hospital costs for 35.6 million hospital stays totaled $381.4 billion in 2013, with 20 conditions accounting for nearly half of hospital costs, according to a statistical brief from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.
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