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| Medicare Posts Hospital Payments Online
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In a step toward price transparency in healthcare and consumer education for patients, Medicare posted its hospital payments for 30 common elective procedures, including knee replacement, back surgery, hernia repair and laparoscopic cholecystectomy, online last week.
The list, broken down by U.S. county in a downloadable spreadsheet, tells you that the national average Medicare payment for DRG 494 (laparoscopic cholecystectomy), for instance, is $5,971, considerably less than the national average hospital charge of $19,314. While the data don't show hospital-specific pricing, they do Include information on how many of each of the 30 procedures each hospital performed in 2005.
CMS plans to expand this list to include payments for elective procedures at outpatient surgical centers and for outpatient procedures performed in hospitals as well as payments for physician services by this fall.
"Our ultimate vision is that patients will be able to compare hospitals and physicians on cost, quality and consumer satisfaction," says Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.
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| Tissue Recall Investigation Continues
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The FDA and the CDC continue to monitor reports of transplant recipients who have tested positive for communicable diseases after receiving tissue recovered by Biomedical Tissue Services of Fort Lee, N.J. BTS recovered tissue from human donors who may have not met FDA donor eligibility requirements and who may not have been properly screened for certain infectious diseases.
Last October, five processors who received tissue from BTS contacted healthcare facilities and clinicians to recall all products produced from the BTS tissue. The recall included a letter from the FDA and CDC that recommended transplant recipients be notified of the recall and offered access to testing for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis.
The CDC is in the process of investigating reports of patients testing positive for one of the four diseases. Arjun Srinivasan, a medical epidemiologist at the agency, says finding a direct link between an infection and the BTS tissue is difficult because the donor records are not accurate. "We have to work backwards," he explains. "We're limited by the accuracy of the information available."
Even though he believes the chance of infection from the BTS tissue is low, Dr. Srinivasan recommends that clinicians and surgical facilities continue to provide transplant recipients with access to testing. He adds that the CDC continues to receive reports of positive test results from transplant recipients and hopes to determine if these cases are related to BTS tissue within the next couple months.
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| National Quality Forum Announces New Measures
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The National Quality Forum has added 37 measures to its list of voluntary consensus standards for gauging and publicly reporting the quality of ambulatory care. The list, part of the Washington, D.C.-based performance measurement and education non-profit's effort to endorse a set of national standards, now includes 69 areas for evaluation in outpatient procedures.
In addition to increased patient safety and quality care, the standards are intended to answer the public's — and public policy's — demands for greater information about and higher standards of accountability from the nation's surgery centers, says the forum.
The newly endorsed standards include checks and reviews under categories of asthma and respiratory illness; hypertension; medication management; obesity; and preventative health with respect to screening, immunization and tobacco cessation. The forum developed the new standards through consultations with more than 320 healthcare providers, consumer groups, professional associations, government agencies, research firms and quality improvement organizations.
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| News and Notes
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The National Quality Forum has added 37 measures to its list of voluntary consensus standards for gauging and publicly reporting the quality of ambulatory care. The list, part of the Washington, D.C.-based performance measurement and education non-profit's effort to endorse a set of national standards, now includes 69 areas for evaluation in outpatient procedures.
In addition to increased patient safety and quality care, the standards are intended to answer the public's — and public policy's — demands for greater information about and higher standards of accountability from the nation's surgery centers, says the forum.
The newly endorsed standards include checks and reviews under categories of asthma and respiratory illness; hypertension; medication management; obesity; and preventative health with respect to screening, immunization and tobacco cessation. The forum developed the new standards through consultations with more than 320 healthcare providers, consumer groups, professional associations, government agencies, research firms and quality improvement organizations.
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