ALSO IN THE NEWS
HHS Publishes Goals on Alternative Payment Models with Continued Focus on Quality – In its continued efforts to base Medicare payments on quality over quantity, this morning HHS made public its goal to have 30% of Medicare payments in alternative payment models—including, for example, accountable care organizations, medical homes, and bundled payment models—by the end of 2016 and 50% of Medicare payments in such models by the end of 2018. Overall, HHS seeks to have 85% of Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) payments in value-based purchasing categories, including quality-linked FFS payment models and alternative payment models, by 2016 and 90% of Medicare FFS payments in such categories by 2018. A CMS fact sheet describing HHS’s goals is available here, and two additional facts sheets on HHS’s efforts to improve the health care delivery system are available here and here.
CMS Says Primary Care Initiatives Generate Savings, Reduce Hospital Admissions and ER Visits – CMS announced on its blog late last week that its Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, a partnership between Medicare, Medicaid payers, and primary care practices in four states, showed promising findings, including decreases in hospital admissions by two percent and in emergency department visits by three percent. Additional information is available on CMS’s blog.
CMS Launches Star-Rating System For Dialysis Facilities – CMS added star ratings to the Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) website. According to CMS, the ratings, posted on January 22, 2015, make the website more user-friendly by summarizing performance data and highlighting excellence in health care quality. The CMS press release is available here and the DFC website is accessible here.
Webinar on Future of Expanded Access to Investigational Drugs – On January 28, 2015, King & Spalding will host a webinar on the legal, regulatory, ethical, and public relations challenges surrounding patient requests for expanded access to investigational drugs and biologics, including threats to the integrity of the clinical trial process, concerns about liability exposure, and the prospect of reputational harm. Additional details and information on registration for the webinar are available here.
Roundtable on E-Discovery For Healthcare Providers: Best Practices In A World Of Ever-Increasing Data – On January 29, 2015, King & Spalding will host a Roundtable Webinar to discuss challenges healthcare providers face and best practices they can implement to handle increasingly large data sources and complex e-discovery issues that arise in False Claims Act (FCA) suits. Many healthcare providers understandably struggle with e-discovery issues given widespread implementation of electronic medical records, collection and reporting of quality data linked to payment, and a diverse range of devices used to manage healthcare data. In this 90-minute session, K&S attorneys will share their experiences and case law trends and provide guidance on a number of critical e-discovery issues in the healthcare litigation defense context. You do not have to be a client to attend, and there is no charge. You can register here to attend.
