Stay in the know with Becker's Hospital Review's weekly roundup of the nation's biggest healthcare news. Here's what you need to know this week.
1. House overwhelmingly votes to repeal SGR
The U.S. House of Representatives voted for a permanent "doc fix" and in favor of repealing the sustainable growth rate formula. The legislation was passed with a vote of 392-37 in the House, and will now go to the Senate for a vote. If the Senate passes the bill by the end of the month and President Barack Obama signs it, the cycle of temporary fixes will end. If the bill doesn't make it to the president by the end of March, physicians will see a 21 percent cut to their Medicare payments April 1 under the SGR. A temporary fix would make this year the 18th time the payment cuts have been blocked by Congress.
2. House approves GOP budget that overhauls Medicare system
House Republicans adopted a 2016 budget on Wednesday in a 228-199 vote that calls for transforming Medicare into a "premium support model." This model would partially privatize the private government program. Additionally, the budget calls for significant changes to the Medicaid program by transforming it into a block grant program.
3. President Obama and HHS kick off advisory group to help with move toward value-based payments
This week, HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced a new initiative supported by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to continue to move the Medicare program, and the U.S. healthcare system, toward paying providers based on the quality, rather than quantity, of the care they provide. A principal element of this effort is an advisory group called the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network, which is being established to provide a forum for public-private partnerships to heal the U.S. healthcare payment system, as well as meet or exceed recently establish Medicare goals for value-based payments and alternative payment models. The network will be supported by an independent contract that will act as a convener and facilitator, and will provide payers, providers, employer, states, consumer groups, individual consumers and others with a forum to discuss, track and share best practices on how to shift toward a pay for performance model.
4. MU stage 3 is out: 9 things to know
CMS released its proposed rule for meaningful use stage 3 on March 20 and it is open for comment through May 29. Stage 3 is expected to be the final stage of the Federal EHR Incentive Program, including elements of the two prior stages into its requirements. The rule proposes transitioning the industry to a single stage of meaningful use in 2018, meaning all providers would have attest to stage 3 regardless of their current stage. Attestation to stage 3 is optional in 2017 and required in 2018. Stage 3 aims to reduce complexity of the program and simplify reporting requirements by establishing a distinct set of objectives and measures for eligible professionals, hospitals and critical access hospitals to meet the definition of meaningful use. The proposed rule would allow all providers to report on a calendar year period starting in calendar year 2017.
5. ONC releases 2015 health IT certification criteria
Alongside CMS' proposed rule for MU stage 3, the ONC released a proposed rule to update its criteria for health IT certification to make it more accessible to a broader range of technology. The 2015 edition also proposes to establish the capabilities and specify related standards and implementation specifications for certified EHR technology under the meaningful use requirements. For five key details on the ONC 2015 health IT certification criteria, click here.
6. Boston Children's experiences 6-day system outage
Last Friday, Boston Children's Hospital's system experienced an outage that affected portions of the electronic system for patient care, including order labs, pharmacy and electronic prescription writing. Digital imaging, patient registration and scheduling continued to run. The outage was quickly identified and all systems were functioning normally by Wednesday. During the outage, staff shifted to patient care services that don't rely on electronic systems, such as face-to-face communication, direct hand-offs, read backs and manually delivering pharmacy notes from the floor to the pharmacy. The outage was caused by a hardware issue related to storage.
7. Physician office wait times down since 2014
According to Vitals' annual "Physician Wait Time Report," the average patient wait time in physician offices is down more than a full minute from last year's average, despite increased healthcare coverage under the PPACA. However, wait times vary greatly, depending on specialty and location. The specialists with the shortest average wait times are psychologists, dentists and radiation oncology specialists. The cities with the shortest wait times are Portland, Minneapolis and Seattle.
8. Healthcare still suffering from the gender gap
The healthcare workforce is comprised of 78 percent women, but new data from a Rock Health report and JAMA study show the field is still very much subject to the gender gap, according to Fortune. More than one-third (34 percent) of executives from the top 100 hospitals are women and 27 percent of seats on these hospitals' boards are held by women, according to the survey. However, only one woman, Heather Bresch of Mylan, is CEO of a healthcare Fortune 500 company. Male nurses earn an annual average of $5,100 more than female nurses. Additionally, only 6 percent of digital health start-ups that have raised $2 million or more since 2011 have female leaders.