Public Policy

With general agreement that health-care costs in the U.S. are unsustainable, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), and the private sector are embarking on new approaches to cost containment. On the one hand, we have value-based purchasing (VBP), which rests on the existing fee-for-service system and aims for incremental change. On the other hand, we have accountable-care organizations (ACOs), which provide a global payment for a population of patients, and bundled-payment programs, which provide a single payment for an episode of care. These reimbursement models represent a fundamental change in how we pay for health care.

On a broad scale, ACOs may be further along in development than bundled-payment programs, even though pockets of bundling prototypes have existed for years. Examples include the Prometheus payment system, Geisinger’s ProvenCare, and CMS’ Acute Care Episode demonstration project, which bundled Part A (hospital) and Part B (doctors, others) payments for cardiac and orthopedic surgery procedures. Over the past two years, we have seen a dramatic uptick in bundling activity, including programs in a number of states (including Arkansas, California, and Massachusetts). Here at Baystate Health in Massachusetts, we kicked off a total-hip-replacement bundle with our subsidiary health plan in January 2011.

Perhaps most notably, bundled payments are part of the Affordable Care Act. The Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative, launched earlier this year by CMMI, is enrolling traditional Medicare patients in bundled-payment programs across the country at more than 400 health systems.

How Bundled Payments Work

Bundled-payment programs provide a single payment to hospitals, doctors, post-acute providers, and other providers (for home care, lab, medical equipment, etc.) for a defined episode of care. Most bundles encompass at least an acute hospital episode and physician payments for the episode; many include some period after hospitalization, covering rehabilitation at a facility or at home and doctors’ visits during recovery. Bundling goes beyond Medicare’s diagnosis-related group (DRG) payments, which reimburse hospitals for all elements of an inpatient hospital stay for a given diagnosis but do not include services performed by nonhospital providers.

How do the finances work in a bundled-payment program? A single price for an episode of care is determined based on historical performance, factoring in all the services one wishes to include in a bundle (e.g. hospital, doctor visits in hospital, home physical therapy, follow-up doctor visits, follow up X-ray and labs for a defined time period). If the hospital, doctors, and others in the bundle generate new efficiencies in care (e.g. due to better care coordination, less wasteful test ordering, or lower implant/device costs), the savings are then distributed to these providers. What if spending exceeds the predetermined price? In some instances, the health plan bears the financial risk; in other instances, the hospital, physicians, and other bundle providers must pay back the shortfall. Important to note is that all sharing of savings is contingent on attainment of or improvement in demonstrated quality-of-care measures relevant to the bundle. In the future, bundling will evolve from shared savings to a single prospective payment for a care episode.

For now, most bundles encompass surgical procedures, although CMMI is working with health systems on several medical bundles, including acute MI, COPD, and stroke. All of these bundles are initiated by an acute hospitalization. Other types of bundles exist, such as with chronic conditions or with post-acute care only. In Massachusetts, a pediatric asthma bundle is being implemented through Medicaid, covering that population for a year or longer. The aim is to redirect dollars that normally would pay for ED visits and inpatient care to pay for interventions that promote better control of the disease and prevent acute flare-ups that lead to hospital visits.

How Hospitalists Fit In

To date, there has been little discussion of how physicians other than the surgeons doing the procedure (most bundles are for surgeries) fit into the clinical or financial model underpinning the program. However, with most patients in surgical or medical bundles being discharged to home, we now recognize that primary-care physicians (PCPs) will be essential to the success of a bundle.

Similarly, with medically complex patients enrolling in surgical bundles, hospitalists will be essential to the pre- and perioperative care of these patients. Also, transitioning bundle patients to home or to a rehabilitation will benefit from the involvement of a hospitalist.

What You Can Do Today

Although this might seem abstract for hospitalists practicing in the here and now, there are compelling opportunities for hospitalists who get involved in bundled-payment programs. Here’s what I suggest:

Find out if your hospital or post-acute facility is participating in bundling by looking at a map of CMMI bundle programs here: http://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/bundled-payments;

• Get a seat at the table working on the bundle; and
• Negotiate a portion of the bundle’s shared savings on the basis of 1) increased efficiency and quality resulting from hospitalist involvement and 2) hospitalist direct oversight of bundled patients in post-acute facilities (if you choose).

Post-acute care may be new for your hospitalist program. Bundling programs are an important new business case for hospitalists in this setting.

Dr. Whitcomb is medical director of healthcare quality at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. He is co-founder and past president of SHM. Email him at [email protected].

With general agreement that health-care costs in the U.S. are unsustainable, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), and the private sector are embarking on new approaches to cost containment. On the one hand, we have value-based purchasing (VBP), which rests on the existing fee-for-service system and aims for incremental change. On the other hand, we have accountable-care organizations (ACOs), which provide a global payment for a population of patients, and bundled-payment programs, which provide a single payment for an episode of care. These reimbursement models represent a fundamental change in how we pay for health care.

On a broad scale, ACOs may be further along in development than bundled-payment programs, even though pockets of bundling prototypes have existed for years. Examples include the Prometheus payment system, Geisinger’s ProvenCare, and CMS’ Acute Care Episode demonstration project, which bundled Part A (hospital) and Part B (doctors, others) payments for cardiac and orthopedic surgery procedures. Over the past two years, we have seen a dramatic uptick in bundling activity, including programs in a number of states (including Arkansas, California, and Massachusetts). Here at Baystate Health in Massachusetts, we kicked off a total-hip-replacement bundle with our subsidiary health plan in January 2011.

Perhaps most notably, bundled payments are part of the Affordable Care Act. The Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative, launched earlier this year by CMMI, is enrolling traditional Medicare patients in bundled-payment programs across the country at more than 400 health systems.

How Bundled Payments Work

Bundled-payment programs provide a single payment to hospitals, doctors, post-acute providers, and other providers (for home care, lab, medical equipment, etc.) for a defined episode of care. Most bundles encompass at least an acute hospital episode and physician payments for the episode; many include some period after hospitalization, covering rehabilitation at a facility or at home and doctors’ visits during recovery. Bundling goes beyond Medicare’s diagnosis-related group (DRG) payments, which reimburse hospitals for all elements of an inpatient hospital stay for a given diagnosis but do not include services performed by nonhospital providers.

How do the finances work in a bundled-payment program? A single price for an episode of care is determined based on historical performance, factoring in all the services one wishes to include in a bundle (e.g. hospital, doctor visits in hospital, home physical therapy, follow-up doctor visits, follow up X-ray and labs for a defined time period). If the hospital, doctors, and others in the bundle generate new efficiencies in care (e.g. due to better care coordination, less wasteful test ordering, or lower implant/device costs), the savings are then distributed to these providers. What if spending exceeds the predetermined price? In some instances, the health plan bears the financial risk; in other instances, the hospital, physicians, and other bundle providers must pay back the shortfall. Important to note is that all sharing of savings is contingent on attainment of or improvement in demonstrated quality-of-care measures relevant to the bundle. In the future, bundling will evolve from shared savings to a single prospective payment for a care episode.

For now, most bundles encompass surgical procedures, although CMMI is working with health systems on several medical bundles, including acute MI, COPD, and stroke. All of these bundles are initiated by an acute hospitalization. Other types of bundles exist, such as with chronic conditions or with post-acute care only. In Massachusetts, a pediatric asthma bundle is being implemented through Medicaid, covering that population for a year or longer. The aim is to redirect dollars that normally would pay for ED visits and inpatient care to pay for interventions that promote better control of the disease and prevent acute flare-ups that lead to hospital visits.

How Hospitalists Fit In

To date, there has been little discussion of how physicians other than the surgeons doing the procedure (most bundles are for surgeries) fit into the clinical or financial model underpinning the program. However, with most patients in surgical or medical bundles being discharged to home, we now recognize that primary-care physicians (PCPs) will be essential to the success of a bundle.

Similarly, with medically complex patients enrolling in surgical bundles, hospitalists will be essential to the pre- and perioperative care of these patients. Also, transitioning bundle patients to home or to a rehabilitation will benefit from the involvement of a hospitalist.

What You Can Do Today

Although this might seem abstract for hospitalists practicing in the here and now, there are compelling opportunities for hospitalists who get involved in bundled-payment programs. Here’s what I suggest:

Find out if your hospital or post-acute facility is participating in bundling by looking at a map of CMMI bundle programs here: http://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/bundled-payments;

• Get a seat at the table working on the bundle; and
• Negotiate a portion of the bundle’s shared savings on the basis of 1) increased efficiency and quality resulting from hospitalist involvement and 2) hospitalist direct oversight of bundled patients in post-acute facilities (if you choose).

Post-acute care may be new for your hospitalist program. Bundling programs are an important new business case for hospitalists in this setting.

Dr. Whitcomb is medical director of healthcare quality at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. He is co-founder and past president of SHM. Email him at [email protected].

With general agreement that health-care costs in the U.S. are unsustainable, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), and the private sector are embarking on new approaches to cost containment. On the one hand, we have value-based purchasing (VBP), which rests on the existing fee-for-service system and aims for incremental change. On the other hand, we have accountable-care organizations (ACOs), which provide a global payment for a population of patients, and bundled-payment programs, which provide a single payment for an episode of care. These reimbursement models represent a fundamental change in how we pay for health care.

On a broad scale, ACOs may be further along in development than bundled-payment programs, even though pockets of bundling prototypes have existed for years. Examples include the Prometheus payment system, Geisinger’s ProvenCare, and CMS’ Acute Care Episode demonstration project, which bundled Part A (hospital) and Part B (doctors, others) payments for cardiac and orthopedic surgery procedures. Over the past two years, we have seen a dramatic uptick in bundling activity, including programs in a number of states (including Arkansas, California, and Massachusetts). Here at Baystate Health in Massachusetts, we kicked off a total-hip-replacement bundle with our subsidiary health plan in January 2011.

Perhaps most notably, bundled payments are part of the Affordable Care Act. The Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative, launched earlier this year by CMMI, is enrolling traditional Medicare patients in bundled-payment programs across the country at more than 400 health systems.

How Bundled Payments Work

Bundled-payment programs provide a single payment to hospitals, doctors, post-acute providers, and other providers (for home care, lab, medical equipment, etc.) for a defined episode of care. Most bundles encompass at least an acute hospital episode and physician payments for the episode; many include some period after hospitalization, covering rehabilitation at a facility or at home and doctors’ visits during recovery. Bundling goes beyond Medicare’s diagnosis-related group (DRG) payments, which reimburse hospitals for all elements of an inpatient hospital stay for a given diagnosis but do not include services performed by nonhospital providers.

How do the finances work in a bundled-payment program? A single price for an episode of care is determined based on historical performance, factoring in all the services one wishes to include in a bundle (e.g. hospital, doctor visits in hospital, home physical therapy, follow-up doctor visits, follow up X-ray and labs for a defined time period). If the hospital, doctors, and others in the bundle generate new efficiencies in care (e.g. due to better care coordination, less wasteful test ordering, or lower implant/device costs), the savings are then distributed to these providers. What if spending exceeds the predetermined price? In some instances, the health plan bears the financial risk; in other instances, the hospital, physicians, and other bundle providers must pay back the shortfall. Important to note is that all sharing of savings is contingent on attainment of or improvement in demonstrated quality-of-care measures relevant to the bundle. In the future, bundling will evolve from shared savings to a single prospective payment for a care episode.

For now, most bundles encompass surgical procedures, although CMMI is working with health systems on several medical bundles, including acute MI, COPD, and stroke. All of these bundles are initiated by an acute hospitalization. Other types of bundles exist, such as with chronic conditions or with post-acute care only. In Massachusetts, a pediatric asthma bundle is being implemented through Medicaid, covering that population for a year or longer. The aim is to redirect dollars that normally would pay for ED visits and inpatient care to pay for interventions that promote better control of the disease and prevent acute flare-ups that lead to hospital visits.

How Hospitalists Fit In

To date, there has been little discussion of how physicians other than the surgeons doing the procedure (most bundles are for surgeries) fit into the clinical or financial model underpinning the program. However, with most patients in surgical or medical bundles being discharged to home, we now recognize that primary-care physicians (PCPs) will be essential to the success of a bundle.

Similarly, with medically complex patients enrolling in surgical bundles, hospitalists will be essential to the pre- and perioperative care of these patients. Also, transitioning bundle patients to home or to a rehabilitation will benefit from the involvement of a hospitalist.

What You Can Do Today

Although this might seem abstract for hospitalists practicing in the here and now, there are compelling opportunities for hospitalists who get involved in bundled-payment programs. Here’s what I suggest:

Find out if your hospital or post-acute facility is participating in bundling by looking at a map of CMMI bundle programs here: http://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/bundled-payments;

• Get a seat at the table working on the bundle; and
• Negotiate a portion of the bundle’s shared savings on the basis of 1) increased efficiency and quality resulting from hospitalist involvement and 2) hospitalist direct oversight of bundled patients in post-acute facilities (if you choose).

Post-acute care may be new for your hospitalist program. Bundling programs are an important new business case for hospitalists in this setting.

Dr. Whitcomb is medical director of healthcare quality at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. He is co-founder and past president of SHM. Email him at [email protected].

The Congressional Budget Office in May sharply lowered its projections for the next decade’s outlays on Medicare, Medicaid, and the extension of coverage for 25 million uninsured Americans under the Affordable Care Act.¹

“During the past several years, health-care spending has grown much more slowly, both nationally and for federal programs, than it did historically and more slowly than CBO had projected,” according to the CBO report.

Health-care spending in 2012 was 5% below the amount the nonpartisan budgetary analysts had estimated in a 2010 projection for 2012. If these trends continue, commentators note, that could lessen budgetary pressures and perhaps strengthen the economy, as well as reduce the urgency for Congress to achieve a “grand bargain” confronting national debt issues.

However, CBO notes, budgetary shortfalls are expected to increase later this decade under the pressures of an aging population, expanded federal subsidies for health insurance, and the resumption of health-care cost inflation.

Larry Beresford is a freelance writer in San Francisco.

Reference

1. Congressional Budget Office. Updated budget projections: fiscal years 2013 to 2023. Congressional Budget Office website. Available at: http://www.cbo.gov/publication/ 44172. Accessed June 15, 2013.

The Congressional Budget Office in May sharply lowered its projections for the next decade’s outlays on Medicare, Medicaid, and the extension of coverage for 25 million uninsured Americans under the Affordable Care Act.¹

“During the past several years, health-care spending has grown much more slowly, both nationally and for federal programs, than it did historically and more slowly than CBO had projected,” according to the CBO report.

Health-care spending in 2012 was 5% below the amount the nonpartisan budgetary analysts had estimated in a 2010 projection for 2012. If these trends continue, commentators note, that could lessen budgetary pressures and perhaps strengthen the economy, as well as reduce the urgency for Congress to achieve a “grand bargain” confronting national debt issues.

However, CBO notes, budgetary shortfalls are expected to increase later this decade under the pressures of an aging population, expanded federal subsidies for health insurance, and the resumption of health-care cost inflation.

Larry Beresford is a freelance writer in San Francisco.

Reference

1. Congressional Budget Office. Updated budget projections: fiscal years 2013 to 2023. Congressional Budget Office website. Available at: http://www.cbo.gov/publication/ 44172. Accessed June 15, 2013.

The Congressional Budget Office in May sharply lowered its projections for the next decade’s outlays on Medicare, Medicaid, and the extension of coverage for 25 million uninsured Americans under the Affordable Care Act.¹

“During the past several years, health-care spending has grown much more slowly, both nationally and for federal programs, than it did historically and more slowly than CBO had projected,” according to the CBO report.

Health-care spending in 2012 was 5% below the amount the nonpartisan budgetary analysts had estimated in a 2010 projection for 2012. If these trends continue, commentators note, that could lessen budgetary pressures and perhaps strengthen the economy, as well as reduce the urgency for Congress to achieve a “grand bargain” confronting national debt issues.

However, CBO notes, budgetary shortfalls are expected to increase later this decade under the pressures of an aging population, expanded federal subsidies for health insurance, and the resumption of health-care cost inflation.

Larry Beresford is a freelance writer in San Francisco.

Reference

1. Congressional Budget Office. Updated budget projections: fiscal years 2013 to 2023. Congressional Budget Office website. Available at: http://www.cbo.gov/publication/ 44172. Accessed June 15, 2013.

In June, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced a national competition for technology developers to help consumers understand and utilize data for comparing the prices of hospital procedures. Winners of the foundation’s Hospital Price Transparency Challenge, to be announced later this year, will share $120,000 in prizes for intuitive, actionable tools leading to more transparent hospital pricing in two categories.

One category involves the creation of visual aids that would help consumers and others better understand the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) hospital-cost data, which was released in May and compares widely variable hospital prices for 100 common inpatient procedures. The other category involves developing applications and tools that could help consumers price-shop.

The foundation is offering support and opportunities for submitters to interact with experts and technical innovators. The deadline for applications is Aug. 25.

In June, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced a national competition for technology developers to help consumers understand and utilize data for comparing the prices of hospital procedures. Winners of the foundation’s Hospital Price Transparency Challenge, to be announced later this year, will share $120,000 in prizes for intuitive, actionable tools leading to more transparent hospital pricing in two categories.

One category involves the creation of visual aids that would help consumers and others better understand the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) hospital-cost data, which was released in May and compares widely variable hospital prices for 100 common inpatient procedures. The other category involves developing applications and tools that could help consumers price-shop.

The foundation is offering support and opportunities for submitters to interact with experts and technical innovators. The deadline for applications is Aug. 25.

In June, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced a national competition for technology developers to help consumers understand and utilize data for comparing the prices of hospital procedures. Winners of the foundation’s Hospital Price Transparency Challenge, to be announced later this year, will share $120,000 in prizes for intuitive, actionable tools leading to more transparent hospital pricing in two categories.

One category involves the creation of visual aids that would help consumers and others better understand the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) hospital-cost data, which was released in May and compares widely variable hospital prices for 100 common inpatient procedures. The other category involves developing applications and tools that could help consumers price-shop.

The foundation is offering support and opportunities for submitters to interact with experts and technical innovators. The deadline for applications is Aug. 25.

The government has made extensive efforts to combat fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, recovering a record $4.2 billion in fiscal 2012 from individuals and companies trying to cheat the system. One of the largest sources of recovered monies is the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program.

The RAC program was created through the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) to identify and recover improper Medicare payments to health-care providers under fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare plans. The goal of the RAC program is to identify improper payments made on claims of health-care services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. Improper payments could be overpayments or underpayments. Hospitals have been hit by the audits, with recoveries reaching $3.6 billion since the national program launched in 2010, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data.¹ About $895 million was reclaimed from just six states during the RAC Demonstration Project between 2005 and 2008.^1,2

CMS is more alert on the medical necessity of one-day length of stay (LOS) for inpatient admissions and is trying to detect and reduce Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse. Hospital charges represent about a third of the $718 billion spent on U.S. health care annually. Medicare reimbursement is a major source of revenue for hospitals, but some hospitals claim Medicare pays them only 93% to 97% of what it costs to provide patient care, whereas private insurers pay between 115% and 125% of those costs.^3,4 These data suggest that private insurers are paying hospitals far more than they need to make up for Medicare’s “underpayment.”

So the first question is: Do hospitals overcharge for care? The next question is: What can be done? Or, in today’s economy, what is being done?

How It All Works

When an RAC determines that a provider was paid for inpatient hospital services but that the patient in question should have been treated as an outpatient, CMS takes back the entire Part A payment. Moreover, CMS takes the position that once an inpatient claim paid under Medicare Part A is later denied (usually years later), the hospital cannot receive Medicare Part B payment except for a few ancillary services. As a result, when an RAC concludes that a hospital should have provided items and services on an outpatient basis rather than an inpatient basis, the hospital ends up receiving little, if any, reimbursement for reasonable and medically necessary items and services provided.^5,6

RACs function through a different model. They keep a contingency percentage—9% to 12.5%—of the entire Part A payment.⁵

Imagine a situation in which a physician decides that a patient needs to be admitted to the hospital for a surgical procedure, and the cost of care provided to the patient—surgery, drugs, and the like—amounts to $20,000. CMS reimburses the hospital under Part A. Two years later, an RAC employee reviewing hospital records overrules the physician’s judgment and decides the patient should have received basically the same care but on an outpatient basis. That decision, taken together with CMS’ Payment Denial Policy, means the hospital will end up receiving essentially no payment for the surgery and other care it provided. The RAC, by contrast, will receive approximately $2,000 for that one case alone.

To Admit or Not to Admit

Medicare expects attending physicians and physician reviewers to make the appropriate bedding status based on severity of signs and symptoms, comorbid and complicating conditions, and the practicality of outpatient management.

Let’s take two examples of patients presenting with acute asthma exacerbation (AAE) to differentiate observation and inpatient status. Asthma affects 20 million Americans, and 450,000 patients present to the ED annually with AAE. One third of these patients are hospitalized, which translates to more than $1 billion in costs annually.

Case 1: A 62-year-old female presents with two weeks of progressive shortness of breath and cough productive of white sputum. She has a history of asthma and hypertension. She presented to the ED with blood pressure of 140/90, heart rate of 101, respiratory rate of 20, temperature of 99.6°F, and pulse oximetry of 93% on room air, which increased to 99% on 2L of oxygen. She was given two breathing treatments with albuterol in the ED, IV methylprednisolone, and IV magnesium sulphate. Over the course of two hours, her wheezes improved, her heart rate decreased to 90 BPM, and her oxygen requirements were weaned to 1L of oxygen. Her WBC count was 9,800, with a potassium level of 4.0 and a creatinine level of 1.0. Her EKG showed sinus tachycardia, and her chest X-ray was negative for any infiltrates. The ED physician called the hospitalist for admission. What status should she be in?

Case 2: A 62-year-old female presents with a three-day history of shortness of breath and wheezing associated with vomiting. She was sent from her PCP’s office for asthma exacerbation and failure of resolution of symptoms despite one week of oral antibiotics and prednisone. Her past medical history includes asthma, diastolic congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, and end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis. She presented to the ED with blood pressure of 90/63, pulse of 120, temperature of 97.7°F, respiratory rate of 24, and pulse oximetry of 89% on room air. She had bilateral wheezes on respiratory examination, and her WBC was 16,500, with a creatinine level of 3.5 and BNP level of 190. Her chest X-ray showed peribronchial thickening, and an EKG showed sinus tachycardia. She was given IV Solu-Medrol and two breathing treatments with albuterol, and the hospitalist was called for admission. What status should she be in?

Case 1 answer: Observation. The medical predictability of adverse clinical outcome from AAE is low due to hemodynamic stability, absence of fever, improvement in hypoxia, and negative chest X-ray for acute bronchopulmonary process in the setting of normal blood counts. She improved dramatically in the ED with no history of previous intubation or hospitalization or use of previous steroids. Her oxygen requirements decreased within 12 hours of first treatment. Even though FEV1 was not monitored, there is documented improvement in her vital signs as well as respiratory examination.

Case 2 answer: Inpatient. The medical predictability of adverse clinical outcome is significant due to hemodynamic instability evidenced by hypotension, tachycardia, and hypoxia; wheezes on respiratory examination with leukocytosis; and abnormal chest X-ray in the setting of comorbid diseases, such as end-stage renal disease and congestive heart failure.

The treatments given to both patients were similar; however, Case 2 had a higher predictability of adverse clinical outcome and would require medical evaluation and management that would exceed 24 hours. An inpatient level of care is justified based on her clinical presentation, comorbidities, and the risk for adverse clinical outcomes.

It is important that the patient be described appropriately in the medical record to support the status. Documentation should include clinical decision-making and rationale of the attending, objective findings, and the treatment given in the ED as well as the treatment planned during the hospitalization. It is expected that the physician will document the possibility and probability of adverse clinical outcome as well as follow evidence-based guidelines for treatment.

Financial Facts

The AHA collects data and anecdotal evidence from member hospitals regarding the RAC program and its effects. Those data show the following:

• More than 95% of the general medical-surgical hospitals that provided information to the AHA have been targeted by RACs;
• RACs have demanded more than a half-million medical records to audit;
• Many audits result in RAC determinations of “overpayment”; and
• Of those overpayment determinations, more than 60% relate to one- or two-day inpatient admissions that RACs deem medically unnecessary.

Hospitals thus have been required to give back hundreds of millions of dollars per year due to RAC determinations that services should have been provided in an outpatient, rather than inpatient, setting. In the first quarter of 2012 alone, information provided to the AHA by hospitals shows that they were forced to repay $236 million for medically necessary items and services that RACs deemed should have been provided on an outpatient, rather than inpatient, basis. And this amount does not include the millions of dollars recovered from hospitals that did not report data to the AHA.

The RAC program has been a continued financial success for CMS and the auditors: RACs collected $1.86 billion in overpayments from October 2009 through March 2012. Over that same time period, RACs identified only $245.2 million in underpayments.⁷

The government, no doubt, is on a mission to rein in health-care costs. All stakeholders in the system, including hospitalists and administrations, need extensive education to document appropriate patient status to ensure accurate reimbursement and prevent the fallout of future repayments.

Dr. Pahuja is founder and CEO of Aerolib Healthcare Solutions (aerolib.com). He is pursuing his MBA in health-care administration from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

References

1. PR Web. Medicare anti-fraud recovered $19 billion, how much for private self-insured plans? Fiduciary overpayment recovery programs announced from ERISAclaim.com. PR Web website. Available at: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/3/prweb10501376.htm. Accessed April 4, 2013.
2. Viebeck E. GAO reports billions in overpayments to private Medicare plans. The Hill website. Available at: http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/286041-gao-reports-billions-in-overpayments-to-private-medicare-plans#ixzz2NASaVVIK. Accessed April 4, 2013.
3. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services. Cost reports. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services website. Available at: http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Files-for-Order/CostReports/index.html. Accessed April 4, 2013.
4. Whelan D. America’s most profitable hospitals. Forbes website. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/30/profitable-hospitals-hca-healthcare-business-mayo-clinic.html. Accessed April 4, 2013.
5. American Medical Association. Recovery Audit Contractors. American Medical Association website. Available at: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/solutions-managing-your-practice/coding-billing-insurance/medicare/recovery-audit-contractors.page. Accessed April 4, 2013.
6. American Hospital Association, Missouri Baptist Sullivan Hospital, Munson Medical Center, Lancaster General Hospital, and Trinity Health Corporation v. Kathleen Sebelius. American Hospital Association website. Available at: http://www.aha.org/content/12/121101-aha-hhs-medicare-com.pdf. Accessed March 12, 2013.
7. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services. Medicare fee-for-service Recovery Audit Program, May 2012. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services website. Available at: http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Monitoring-Programs/Recovery-Audit-Program/Downloads/National-Program-Corrections-FY-2012-2nd-Qtr.pdf. Accessed April 4, 2013.
8. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. FY 2014 IPPS proposed rule home page items. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website. Available at: http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/AcuteInpatientPPS/FY-2014-IPPS-Proposed-Rule-Home-Page-Items/FY-2014-IPPS-Proposed-Rule-CMS-1599-P-Regulations.html. Accessed June 10, 2013.

The government has made extensive efforts to combat fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, recovering a record $4.2 billion in fiscal 2012 from individuals and companies trying to cheat the system. One of the largest sources of recovered monies is the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program.

The RAC program was created through the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) to identify and recover improper Medicare payments to health-care providers under fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare plans. The goal of the RAC program is to identify improper payments made on claims of health-care services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. Improper payments could be overpayments or underpayments. Hospitals have been hit by the audits, with recoveries reaching $3.6 billion since the national program launched in 2010, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data.¹ About $895 million was reclaimed from just six states during the RAC Demonstration Project between 2005 and 2008.^1,2

CMS is more alert on the medical necessity of one-day length of stay (LOS) for inpatient admissions and is trying to detect and reduce Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse. Hospital charges represent about a third of the $718 billion spent on U.S. health care annually. Medicare reimbursement is a major source of revenue for hospitals, but some hospitals claim Medicare pays them only 93% to 97% of what it costs to provide patient care, whereas private insurers pay between 115% and 125% of those costs.^3,4 These data suggest that private insurers are paying hospitals far more than they need to make up for Medicare’s “underpayment.”

So the first question is: Do hospitals overcharge for care? The next question is: What can be done? Or, in today’s economy, what is being done?

How It All Works

When an RAC determines that a provider was paid for inpatient hospital services but that the patient in question should have been treated as an outpatient, CMS takes back the entire Part A payment. Moreover, CMS takes the position that once an inpatient claim paid under Medicare Part A is later denied (usually years later), the hospital cannot receive Medicare Part B payment except for a few ancillary services. As a result, when an RAC concludes that a hospital should have provided items and services on an outpatient basis rather than an inpatient basis, the hospital ends up receiving little, if any, reimbursement for reasonable and medically necessary items and services provided.^5,6

RACs function through a different model. They keep a contingency percentage—9% to 12.5%—of the entire Part A payment.⁵

Imagine a situation in which a physician decides that a patient needs to be admitted to the hospital for a surgical procedure, and the cost of care provided to the patient—surgery, drugs, and the like—amounts to $20,000. CMS reimburses the hospital under Part A. Two years later, an RAC employee reviewing hospital records overrules the physician’s judgment and decides the patient should have received basically the same care but on an outpatient basis. That decision, taken together with CMS’ Payment Denial Policy, means the hospital will end up receiving essentially no payment for the surgery and other care it provided. The RAC, by contrast, will receive approximately $2,000 for that one case alone.

To Admit or Not to Admit

Medicare expects attending physicians and physician reviewers to make the appropriate bedding status based on severity of signs and symptoms, comorbid and complicating conditions, and the practicality of outpatient management.

Let’s take two examples of patients presenting with acute asthma exacerbation (AAE) to differentiate observation and inpatient status. Asthma affects 20 million Americans, and 450,000 patients present to the ED annually with AAE. One third of these patients are hospitalized, which translates to more than $1 billion in costs annually.

Case 1: A 62-year-old female presents with two weeks of progressive shortness of breath and cough productive of white sputum. She has a history of asthma and hypertension. She presented to the ED with blood pressure of 140/90, heart rate of 101, respiratory rate of 20, temperature of 99.6°F, and pulse oximetry of 93% on room air, which increased to 99% on 2L of oxygen. She was given two breathing treatments with albuterol in the ED, IV methylprednisolone, and IV magnesium sulphate. Over the course of two hours, her wheezes improved, her heart rate decreased to 90 BPM, and her oxygen requirements were weaned to 1L of oxygen. Her WBC count was 9,800, with a potassium level of 4.0 and a creatinine level of 1.0. Her EKG showed sinus tachycardia, and her chest X-ray was negative for any infiltrates. The ED physician called the hospitalist for admission. What status should she be in?

Case 2: A 62-year-old female presents with a three-day history of shortness of breath and wheezing associated with vomiting. She was sent from her PCP’s office for asthma exacerbation and failure of resolution of symptoms despite one week of oral antibiotics and prednisone. Her past medical history includes asthma, diastolic congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, and end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis. She presented to the ED with blood pressure of 90/63, pulse of 120, temperature of 97.7°F, respiratory rate of 24, and pulse oximetry of 89% on room air. She had bilateral wheezes on respiratory examination, and her WBC was 16,500, with a creatinine level of 3.5 and BNP level of 190. Her chest X-ray showed peribronchial thickening, and an EKG showed sinus tachycardia. She was given IV Solu-Medrol and two breathing treatments with albuterol, and the hospitalist was called for admission. What status should she be in?

Case 1 answer: Observation. The medical predictability of adverse clinical outcome from AAE is low due to hemodynamic stability, absence of fever, improvement in hypoxia, and negative chest X-ray for acute bronchopulmonary process in the setting of normal blood counts. She improved dramatically in the ED with no history of previous intubation or hospitalization or use of previous steroids. Her oxygen requirements decreased within 12 hours of first treatment. Even though FEV1 was not monitored, there is documented improvement in her vital signs as well as respiratory examination.

Case 2 answer: Inpatient. The medical predictability of adverse clinical outcome is significant due to hemodynamic instability evidenced by hypotension, tachycardia, and hypoxia; wheezes on respiratory examination with leukocytosis; and abnormal chest X-ray in the setting of comorbid diseases, such as end-stage renal disease and congestive heart failure.

The treatments given to both patients were similar; however, Case 2 had a higher predictability of adverse clinical outcome and would require medical evaluation and management that would exceed 24 hours. An inpatient level of care is justified based on her clinical presentation, comorbidities, and the risk for adverse clinical outcomes.

It is important that the patient be described appropriately in the medical record to support the status. Documentation should include clinical decision-making and rationale of the attending, objective findings, and the treatment given in the ED as well as the treatment planned during the hospitalization. It is expected that the physician will document the possibility and probability of adverse clinical outcome as well as follow evidence-based guidelines for treatment.

Financial Facts

The AHA collects data and anecdotal evidence from member hospitals regarding the RAC program and its effects. Those data show the following:

• More than 95% of the general medical-surgical hospitals that provided information to the AHA have been targeted by RACs;
• RACs have demanded more than a half-million medical records to audit;
• Many audits result in RAC determinations of “overpayment”; and
• Of those overpayment determinations, more than 60% relate to one- or two-day inpatient admissions that RACs deem medically unnecessary.

Hospitals thus have been required to give back hundreds of millions of dollars per year due to RAC determinations that services should have been provided in an outpatient, rather than inpatient, setting. In the first quarter of 2012 alone, information provided to the AHA by hospitals shows that they were forced to repay $236 million for medically necessary items and services that RACs deemed should have been provided on an outpatient, rather than inpatient, basis. And this amount does not include the millions of dollars recovered from hospitals that did not report data to the AHA.

The RAC program has been a continued financial success for CMS and the auditors: RACs collected $1.86 billion in overpayments from October 2009 through March 2012. Over that same time period, RACs identified only $245.2 million in underpayments.⁷

The government, no doubt, is on a mission to rein in health-care costs. All stakeholders in the system, including hospitalists and administrations, need extensive education to document appropriate patient status to ensure accurate reimbursement and prevent the fallout of future repayments.

Dr. Pahuja is founder and CEO of Aerolib Healthcare Solutions (aerolib.com). He is pursuing his MBA in health-care administration from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

References

1. PR Web. Medicare anti-fraud recovered $19 billion, how much for private self-insured plans? Fiduciary overpayment recovery programs announced from ERISAclaim.com. PR Web website. Available at: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/3/prweb10501376.htm. Accessed April 4, 2013.
2. Viebeck E. GAO reports billions in overpayments to private Medicare plans. The Hill website. Available at: http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/286041-gao-reports-billions-in-overpayments-to-private-medicare-plans#ixzz2NASaVVIK. Accessed April 4, 2013.
3. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services. Cost reports. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services website. Available at: http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Files-for-Order/CostReports/index.html. Accessed April 4, 2013.
4. Whelan D. America’s most profitable hospitals. Forbes website. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/30/profitable-hospitals-hca-healthcare-business-mayo-clinic.html. Accessed April 4, 2013.
5. American Medical Association. Recovery Audit Contractors. American Medical Association website. Available at: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/solutions-managing-your-practice/coding-billing-insurance/medicare/recovery-audit-contractors.page. Accessed April 4, 2013.
6. American Hospital Association, Missouri Baptist Sullivan Hospital, Munson Medical Center, Lancaster General Hospital, and Trinity Health Corporation v. Kathleen Sebelius. American Hospital Association website. Available at: http://www.aha.org/content/12/121101-aha-hhs-medicare-com.pdf. Accessed March 12, 2013.
7. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services. Medicare fee-for-service Recovery Audit Program, May 2012. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services website. Available at: http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Monitoring-Programs/Recovery-Audit-Program/Downloads/National-Program-Corrections-FY-2012-2nd-Qtr.pdf. Accessed April 4, 2013.
8. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. FY 2014 IPPS proposed rule home page items. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website. Available at: http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/AcuteInpatientPPS/FY-2014-IPPS-Proposed-Rule-Home-Page-Items/FY-2014-IPPS-Proposed-Rule-CMS-1599-P-Regulations.html. Accessed June 10, 2013.

The government has made extensive efforts to combat fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, recovering a record $4.2 billion in fiscal 2012 from individuals and companies trying to cheat the system. One of the largest sources of recovered monies is the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program.

The RAC program was created through the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) to identify and recover improper Medicare payments to health-care providers under fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare plans. The goal of the RAC program is to identify improper payments made on claims of health-care services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. Improper payments could be overpayments or underpayments. Hospitals have been hit by the audits, with recoveries reaching $3.6 billion since the national program launched in 2010, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data.¹ About $895 million was reclaimed from just six states during the RAC Demonstration Project between 2005 and 2008.^1,2

CMS is more alert on the medical necessity of one-day length of stay (LOS) for inpatient admissions and is trying to detect and reduce Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse. Hospital charges represent about a third of the $718 billion spent on U.S. health care annually. Medicare reimbursement is a major source of revenue for hospitals, but some hospitals claim Medicare pays them only 93% to 97% of what it costs to provide patient care, whereas private insurers pay between 115% and 125% of those costs.^3,4 These data suggest that private insurers are paying hospitals far more than they need to make up for Medicare’s “underpayment.”

So the first question is: Do hospitals overcharge for care? The next question is: What can be done? Or, in today’s economy, what is being done?

How It All Works

When an RAC determines that a provider was paid for inpatient hospital services but that the patient in question should have been treated as an outpatient, CMS takes back the entire Part A payment. Moreover, CMS takes the position that once an inpatient claim paid under Medicare Part A is later denied (usually years later), the hospital cannot receive Medicare Part B payment except for a few ancillary services. As a result, when an RAC concludes that a hospital should have provided items and services on an outpatient basis rather than an inpatient basis, the hospital ends up receiving little, if any, reimbursement for reasonable and medically necessary items and services provided.^5,6

RACs function through a different model. They keep a contingency percentage—9% to 12.5%—of the entire Part A payment.⁵

Imagine a situation in which a physician decides that a patient needs to be admitted to the hospital for a surgical procedure, and the cost of care provided to the patient—surgery, drugs, and the like—amounts to $20,000. CMS reimburses the hospital under Part A. Two years later, an RAC employee reviewing hospital records overrules the physician’s judgment and decides the patient should have received basically the same care but on an outpatient basis. That decision, taken together with CMS’ Payment Denial Policy, means the hospital will end up receiving essentially no payment for the surgery and other care it provided. The RAC, by contrast, will receive approximately $2,000 for that one case alone.

To Admit or Not to Admit

Medicare expects attending physicians and physician reviewers to make the appropriate bedding status based on severity of signs and symptoms, comorbid and complicating conditions, and the practicality of outpatient management.

Let’s take two examples of patients presenting with acute asthma exacerbation (AAE) to differentiate observation and inpatient status. Asthma affects 20 million Americans, and 450,000 patients present to the ED annually with AAE. One third of these patients are hospitalized, which translates to more than $1 billion in costs annually.

Case 1: A 62-year-old female presents with two weeks of progressive shortness of breath and cough productive of white sputum. She has a history of asthma and hypertension. She presented to the ED with blood pressure of 140/90, heart rate of 101, respiratory rate of 20, temperature of 99.6°F, and pulse oximetry of 93% on room air, which increased to 99% on 2L of oxygen. She was given two breathing treatments with albuterol in the ED, IV methylprednisolone, and IV magnesium sulphate. Over the course of two hours, her wheezes improved, her heart rate decreased to 90 BPM, and her oxygen requirements were weaned to 1L of oxygen. Her WBC count was 9,800, with a potassium level of 4.0 and a creatinine level of 1.0. Her EKG showed sinus tachycardia, and her chest X-ray was negative for any infiltrates. The ED physician called the hospitalist for admission. What status should she be in?

Case 2: A 62-year-old female presents with a three-day history of shortness of breath and wheezing associated with vomiting. She was sent from her PCP’s office for asthma exacerbation and failure of resolution of symptoms despite one week of oral antibiotics and prednisone. Her past medical history includes asthma, diastolic congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, and end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis. She presented to the ED with blood pressure of 90/63, pulse of 120, temperature of 97.7°F, respiratory rate of 24, and pulse oximetry of 89% on room air. She had bilateral wheezes on respiratory examination, and her WBC was 16,500, with a creatinine level of 3.5 and BNP level of 190. Her chest X-ray showed peribronchial thickening, and an EKG showed sinus tachycardia. She was given IV Solu-Medrol and two breathing treatments with albuterol, and the hospitalist was called for admission. What status should she be in?

Case 1 answer: Observation. The medical predictability of adverse clinical outcome from AAE is low due to hemodynamic stability, absence of fever, improvement in hypoxia, and negative chest X-ray for acute bronchopulmonary process in the setting of normal blood counts. She improved dramatically in the ED with no history of previous intubation or hospitalization or use of previous steroids. Her oxygen requirements decreased within 12 hours of first treatment. Even though FEV1 was not monitored, there is documented improvement in her vital signs as well as respiratory examination.

Case 2 answer: Inpatient. The medical predictability of adverse clinical outcome is significant due to hemodynamic instability evidenced by hypotension, tachycardia, and hypoxia; wheezes on respiratory examination with leukocytosis; and abnormal chest X-ray in the setting of comorbid diseases, such as end-stage renal disease and congestive heart failure.

The treatments given to both patients were similar; however, Case 2 had a higher predictability of adverse clinical outcome and would require medical evaluation and management that would exceed 24 hours. An inpatient level of care is justified based on her clinical presentation, comorbidities, and the risk for adverse clinical outcomes.

It is important that the patient be described appropriately in the medical record to support the status. Documentation should include clinical decision-making and rationale of the attending, objective findings, and the treatment given in the ED as well as the treatment planned during the hospitalization. It is expected that the physician will document the possibility and probability of adverse clinical outcome as well as follow evidence-based guidelines for treatment.

Financial Facts

The AHA collects data and anecdotal evidence from member hospitals regarding the RAC program and its effects. Those data show the following:

• More than 95% of the general medical-surgical hospitals that provided information to the AHA have been targeted by RACs;
• RACs have demanded more than a half-million medical records to audit;
• Many audits result in RAC determinations of “overpayment”; and
• Of those overpayment determinations, more than 60% relate to one- or two-day inpatient admissions that RACs deem medically unnecessary.

Hospitals thus have been required to give back hundreds of millions of dollars per year due to RAC determinations that services should have been provided in an outpatient, rather than inpatient, setting. In the first quarter of 2012 alone, information provided to the AHA by hospitals shows that they were forced to repay $236 million for medically necessary items and services that RACs deemed should have been provided on an outpatient, rather than inpatient, basis. And this amount does not include the millions of dollars recovered from hospitals that did not report data to the AHA.

The RAC program has been a continued financial success for CMS and the auditors: RACs collected $1.86 billion in overpayments from October 2009 through March 2012. Over that same time period, RACs identified only $245.2 million in underpayments.⁷

The government, no doubt, is on a mission to rein in health-care costs. All stakeholders in the system, including hospitalists and administrations, need extensive education to document appropriate patient status to ensure accurate reimbursement and prevent the fallout of future repayments.

Dr. Pahuja is founder and CEO of Aerolib Healthcare Solutions (aerolib.com). He is pursuing his MBA in health-care administration from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

References

1. PR Web. Medicare anti-fraud recovered $19 billion, how much for private self-insured plans? Fiduciary overpayment recovery programs announced from ERISAclaim.com. PR Web website. Available at: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/3/prweb10501376.htm. Accessed April 4, 2013.
2. Viebeck E. GAO reports billions in overpayments to private Medicare plans. The Hill website. Available at: http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/286041-gao-reports-billions-in-overpayments-to-private-medicare-plans#ixzz2NASaVVIK. Accessed April 4, 2013.
3. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services. Cost reports. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services website. Available at: http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Files-for-Order/CostReports/index.html. Accessed April 4, 2013.
4. Whelan D. America’s most profitable hospitals. Forbes website. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/30/profitable-hospitals-hca-healthcare-business-mayo-clinic.html. Accessed April 4, 2013.
5. American Medical Association. Recovery Audit Contractors. American Medical Association website. Available at: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/solutions-managing-your-practice/coding-billing-insurance/medicare/recovery-audit-contractors.page. Accessed April 4, 2013.
6. American Hospital Association, Missouri Baptist Sullivan Hospital, Munson Medical Center, Lancaster General Hospital, and Trinity Health Corporation v. Kathleen Sebelius. American Hospital Association website. Available at: http://www.aha.org/content/12/121101-aha-hhs-medicare-com.pdf. Accessed March 12, 2013.
7. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services. Medicare fee-for-service Recovery Audit Program, May 2012. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services website. Available at: http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Monitoring-Programs/Recovery-Audit-Program/Downloads/National-Program-Corrections-FY-2012-2nd-Qtr.pdf. Accessed April 4, 2013.
8. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. FY 2014 IPPS proposed rule home page items. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website. Available at: http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/AcuteInpatientPPS/FY-2014-IPPS-Proposed-Rule-Home-Page-Items/FY-2014-IPPS-Proposed-Rule-CMS-1599-P-Regulations.html. Accessed June 10, 2013.

Who doesn’t know and love Consumer Reports? I personally have used this product to help me make a wide range of purchases, from child-care products to a new automobile. Consumer Reports has enjoyed a relatively unblemished reputation since its inception as an unbiased repository of invaluable information for consumers. This nonprofit advocacy organization advises consumers looking to purchase anything from small, menial items (e.g. blenders and toasters) to large, expensive ones (e.g. computers, lawn mowers, cars). It has been categorizing and publishing large-scale consumer feedback and in-house testing since 1936. According to Wikipedia, Consumer Reports has more than 7 million subscribers and runs a budget in excess of $21 million annually.

One of the reasons for its longstanding success is that it does not appear to have any hidden agenda. It does not have any partiality to a specific company or service, and therefore has maintained its impartial stance during testing and evaluation of any good or service. Its Consumer Reports magazine houses no advertisements in order to maintain its objectivity. Its only agenda is to reflect the interests and opinions of the consumers themselves, and its mission is to provide a “fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves.”¹ A perfect agent from which to seek advice.

And as a company, it has grown with the times, as it now hosts a variety of platforms from which consumers can seek advice. It has long hosted a website (ConsumerReports.org). Now it has Consumer Reports Television and The Consumerist blog, the latter of which accepts “tips” from anyone on what stories to cover, helpful tips for consumers, or interesting pictures. For a few years, there was also Consumer Reports WebWatch, which was aimed at improving the credibility of websites through rigorous investigative reporting.

So it seems that Consumer Reports could be a good avenue to seek advice on where to “consume” health care. And, in fact, it is now in the business of rating the health-care industry. Recent blog posts from Consumer Reports have entailed topics as wide-ranging as the number of uninsured in the U.S. to the number and types of recalls of food products.

The health part of the website covers beauty and personal care (sunscreens and anti-wrinkle serums), exercise and fitness (bikes and diet plans), foods (coffee to frozen meals), home medical supplies (heart rate and blood pressure monitors), vitamins, supplements, and, last but not least, health services. This last section rates health insurance, heart surgeons, heart screening tests, and hospitals.

It even goes so far as to “rate” medications; its Best Buy Drugs compares the cost and effectiveness of a variety of prescription drugs ranging from anti-hypertensives to diabetic agents.

In Focus: Hospitals

Consumer Reports’ latest foray into the health-care industry now includes reporting on the quality of hospitals. The current ratings evaluated more than 2,000 acute-care hospitals in the U.S. and came up with several rankings.

The first rating includes “patient outcomes,” which is a conglomerate of hospital-acquired central-line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates, select surgical-site-infection [SSI] rates, 30-day readmission rates (for acute MI [AMI], congestive heart failure [CHF], and pneumonia), and eight “Patient Safety Indicators” (derived from definitions from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality [AHRQ], and includes pressure ulcers, pneumothorax, CLABSI, accidental puncture injury during surgery, and four postoperative complications, including VTE, sepsis, hip fracture, and wound dehiscence).

It also includes ratings of the patient experience (from a subset of HCAHPS questions) and two measures of hospital practices, including the use of electronic health records (from the American Hospital Association) and the use of “double scans” (simultaneous thoracic and abdominal CT scans).

From all of these ratings, Consumer Reports combined some of the metrics to arrive at a “Safety Score,” which ranges from 0 to 100 (100 being the safest), based on five categories, including infections (CLABSI and SSI), readmission rates (for AMI, CHF, and pneumonia), patient ratings of communication about their medications and about their discharge process, rate of double scans, and avoidance of the aforementioned AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators.

As to how potential patients are supposed to use this information, Consumer Reports gives the following advice to those wanting to know how the ratings can help a patient get better care: “They can help you compare hospitals in your area so you can choose the one that’s best for you. Even if you don’t have a choice of hospitals, our ratings can alert you to particular concerns so you can take steps to prevent problems no matter which hospital you go to. For example, if a hospital scores low in communicating with patients about what to do when they’re discharged, you should ask about discharge planning at the hospital you choose and make sure you know what to do when you leave.”

Overall, the average Safety Score for included hospitals was a 49, with a range from 14 to 74 across the U.S. Teaching hospitals were among the lowest scorers, with two-thirds of them rated below average.

At first blush, the numbers seem humbling, even startling, but it is not clear if they reflect bad care or bad metrics. Consumer Reports, similar to many other rating scales, has glued together a hodge-podge of different metrics and converted them into a summary score that may or may not line up with other organizational ratings (e.g. U.S. News and World Report, Leapfrog Group, Healthgrades, etc). Consumer Reports does acknowledge that none of the information for their rankings is actually collected from Consumer Reports but from other sources, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the American Hospital Association (AHA).

The Bottom Line

Despite all this attention from Consumer Reports and others, online ratings are only used by about 14% of consumers to review hospitals or health-care facilities and by about 17% of consumers to review physicians or other health-care providers.² Although the uptick is relatively low for use of online ratings to seek health care, that likely will change as the measurements get better and are more reflective of true care quality.

The bottom line for consumers is: Where do I want to be hospitalized when I get sick, and can I tell at the front end in which aspects a hospital is going to do well?

I think the answer for consumers should be to stay informed, always have an advocate at your side, and never stop asking questions.And for now, relegate Consumer Reports to purchases, not health care.

Dr. Scheurer is a hospitalist and chief quality officer at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She is physician editor of The Hospitalist. Email her at [email protected].

References

1. Consumer Reports. How we rate hospitals. Consumer Reports website. Available at: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/10/how-we-rate-hospitals/index.htm. Accessed May 12, 2013.
2. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Peer-to-peer health care. Pew Internet website. Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Health-online/Part-Two/Section-2.aspx. Accessed May 12, 2013.

Who doesn’t know and love Consumer Reports? I personally have used this product to help me make a wide range of purchases, from child-care products to a new automobile. Consumer Reports has enjoyed a relatively unblemished reputation since its inception as an unbiased repository of invaluable information for consumers. This nonprofit advocacy organization advises consumers looking to purchase anything from small, menial items (e.g. blenders and toasters) to large, expensive ones (e.g. computers, lawn mowers, cars). It has been categorizing and publishing large-scale consumer feedback and in-house testing since 1936. According to Wikipedia, Consumer Reports has more than 7 million subscribers and runs a budget in excess of $21 million annually.

One of the reasons for its longstanding success is that it does not appear to have any hidden agenda. It does not have any partiality to a specific company or service, and therefore has maintained its impartial stance during testing and evaluation of any good or service. Its Consumer Reports magazine houses no advertisements in order to maintain its objectivity. Its only agenda is to reflect the interests and opinions of the consumers themselves, and its mission is to provide a “fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves.”¹ A perfect agent from which to seek advice.

And as a company, it has grown with the times, as it now hosts a variety of platforms from which consumers can seek advice. It has long hosted a website (ConsumerReports.org). Now it has Consumer Reports Television and The Consumerist blog, the latter of which accepts “tips” from anyone on what stories to cover, helpful tips for consumers, or interesting pictures. For a few years, there was also Consumer Reports WebWatch, which was aimed at improving the credibility of websites through rigorous investigative reporting.

So it seems that Consumer Reports could be a good avenue to seek advice on where to “consume” health care. And, in fact, it is now in the business of rating the health-care industry. Recent blog posts from Consumer Reports have entailed topics as wide-ranging as the number of uninsured in the U.S. to the number and types of recalls of food products.

The health part of the website covers beauty and personal care (sunscreens and anti-wrinkle serums), exercise and fitness (bikes and diet plans), foods (coffee to frozen meals), home medical supplies (heart rate and blood pressure monitors), vitamins, supplements, and, last but not least, health services. This last section rates health insurance, heart surgeons, heart screening tests, and hospitals.

It even goes so far as to “rate” medications; its Best Buy Drugs compares the cost and effectiveness of a variety of prescription drugs ranging from anti-hypertensives to diabetic agents.

In Focus: Hospitals

Consumer Reports’ latest foray into the health-care industry now includes reporting on the quality of hospitals. The current ratings evaluated more than 2,000 acute-care hospitals in the U.S. and came up with several rankings.

The first rating includes “patient outcomes,” which is a conglomerate of hospital-acquired central-line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates, select surgical-site-infection [SSI] rates, 30-day readmission rates (for acute MI [AMI], congestive heart failure [CHF], and pneumonia), and eight “Patient Safety Indicators” (derived from definitions from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality [AHRQ], and includes pressure ulcers, pneumothorax, CLABSI, accidental puncture injury during surgery, and four postoperative complications, including VTE, sepsis, hip fracture, and wound dehiscence).

It also includes ratings of the patient experience (from a subset of HCAHPS questions) and two measures of hospital practices, including the use of electronic health records (from the American Hospital Association) and the use of “double scans” (simultaneous thoracic and abdominal CT scans).

From all of these ratings, Consumer Reports combined some of the metrics to arrive at a “Safety Score,” which ranges from 0 to 100 (100 being the safest), based on five categories, including infections (CLABSI and SSI), readmission rates (for AMI, CHF, and pneumonia), patient ratings of communication about their medications and about their discharge process, rate of double scans, and avoidance of the aforementioned AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators.

As to how potential patients are supposed to use this information, Consumer Reports gives the following advice to those wanting to know how the ratings can help a patient get better care: “They can help you compare hospitals in your area so you can choose the one that’s best for you. Even if you don’t have a choice of hospitals, our ratings can alert you to particular concerns so you can take steps to prevent problems no matter which hospital you go to. For example, if a hospital scores low in communicating with patients about what to do when they’re discharged, you should ask about discharge planning at the hospital you choose and make sure you know what to do when you leave.”

Overall, the average Safety Score for included hospitals was a 49, with a range from 14 to 74 across the U.S. Teaching hospitals were among the lowest scorers, with two-thirds of them rated below average.

At first blush, the numbers seem humbling, even startling, but it is not clear if they reflect bad care or bad metrics. Consumer Reports, similar to many other rating scales, has glued together a hodge-podge of different metrics and converted them into a summary score that may or may not line up with other organizational ratings (e.g. U.S. News and World Report, Leapfrog Group, Healthgrades, etc). Consumer Reports does acknowledge that none of the information for their rankings is actually collected from Consumer Reports but from other sources, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the American Hospital Association (AHA).

The Bottom Line

Despite all this attention from Consumer Reports and others, online ratings are only used by about 14% of consumers to review hospitals or health-care facilities and by about 17% of consumers to review physicians or other health-care providers.² Although the uptick is relatively low for use of online ratings to seek health care, that likely will change as the measurements get better and are more reflective of true care quality.

The bottom line for consumers is: Where do I want to be hospitalized when I get sick, and can I tell at the front end in which aspects a hospital is going to do well?

I think the answer for consumers should be to stay informed, always have an advocate at your side, and never stop asking questions.And for now, relegate Consumer Reports to purchases, not health care.

Dr. Scheurer is a hospitalist and chief quality officer at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She is physician editor of The Hospitalist. Email her at [email protected].

References

1. Consumer Reports. How we rate hospitals. Consumer Reports website. Available at: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/10/how-we-rate-hospitals/index.htm. Accessed May 12, 2013.
2. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Peer-to-peer health care. Pew Internet website. Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Health-online/Part-Two/Section-2.aspx. Accessed May 12, 2013.

Who doesn’t know and love Consumer Reports? I personally have used this product to help me make a wide range of purchases, from child-care products to a new automobile. Consumer Reports has enjoyed a relatively unblemished reputation since its inception as an unbiased repository of invaluable information for consumers. This nonprofit advocacy organization advises consumers looking to purchase anything from small, menial items (e.g. blenders and toasters) to large, expensive ones (e.g. computers, lawn mowers, cars). It has been categorizing and publishing large-scale consumer feedback and in-house testing since 1936. According to Wikipedia, Consumer Reports has more than 7 million subscribers and runs a budget in excess of $21 million annually.

One of the reasons for its longstanding success is that it does not appear to have any hidden agenda. It does not have any partiality to a specific company or service, and therefore has maintained its impartial stance during testing and evaluation of any good or service. Its Consumer Reports magazine houses no advertisements in order to maintain its objectivity. Its only agenda is to reflect the interests and opinions of the consumers themselves, and its mission is to provide a “fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves.”¹ A perfect agent from which to seek advice.

And as a company, it has grown with the times, as it now hosts a variety of platforms from which consumers can seek advice. It has long hosted a website (ConsumerReports.org). Now it has Consumer Reports Television and The Consumerist blog, the latter of which accepts “tips” from anyone on what stories to cover, helpful tips for consumers, or interesting pictures. For a few years, there was also Consumer Reports WebWatch, which was aimed at improving the credibility of websites through rigorous investigative reporting.

So it seems that Consumer Reports could be a good avenue to seek advice on where to “consume” health care. And, in fact, it is now in the business of rating the health-care industry. Recent blog posts from Consumer Reports have entailed topics as wide-ranging as the number of uninsured in the U.S. to the number and types of recalls of food products.

The health part of the website covers beauty and personal care (sunscreens and anti-wrinkle serums), exercise and fitness (bikes and diet plans), foods (coffee to frozen meals), home medical supplies (heart rate and blood pressure monitors), vitamins, supplements, and, last but not least, health services. This last section rates health insurance, heart surgeons, heart screening tests, and hospitals.

It even goes so far as to “rate” medications; its Best Buy Drugs compares the cost and effectiveness of a variety of prescription drugs ranging from anti-hypertensives to diabetic agents.

In Focus: Hospitals

Consumer Reports’ latest foray into the health-care industry now includes reporting on the quality of hospitals. The current ratings evaluated more than 2,000 acute-care hospitals in the U.S. and came up with several rankings.

The first rating includes “patient outcomes,” which is a conglomerate of hospital-acquired central-line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates, select surgical-site-infection [SSI] rates, 30-day readmission rates (for acute MI [AMI], congestive heart failure [CHF], and pneumonia), and eight “Patient Safety Indicators” (derived from definitions from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality [AHRQ], and includes pressure ulcers, pneumothorax, CLABSI, accidental puncture injury during surgery, and four postoperative complications, including VTE, sepsis, hip fracture, and wound dehiscence).

It also includes ratings of the patient experience (from a subset of HCAHPS questions) and two measures of hospital practices, including the use of electronic health records (from the American Hospital Association) and the use of “double scans” (simultaneous thoracic and abdominal CT scans).

From all of these ratings, Consumer Reports combined some of the metrics to arrive at a “Safety Score,” which ranges from 0 to 100 (100 being the safest), based on five categories, including infections (CLABSI and SSI), readmission rates (for AMI, CHF, and pneumonia), patient ratings of communication about their medications and about their discharge process, rate of double scans, and avoidance of the aforementioned AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators.

As to how potential patients are supposed to use this information, Consumer Reports gives the following advice to those wanting to know how the ratings can help a patient get better care: “They can help you compare hospitals in your area so you can choose the one that’s best for you. Even if you don’t have a choice of hospitals, our ratings can alert you to particular concerns so you can take steps to prevent problems no matter which hospital you go to. For example, if a hospital scores low in communicating with patients about what to do when they’re discharged, you should ask about discharge planning at the hospital you choose and make sure you know what to do when you leave.”

Overall, the average Safety Score for included hospitals was a 49, with a range from 14 to 74 across the U.S. Teaching hospitals were among the lowest scorers, with two-thirds of them rated below average.

At first blush, the numbers seem humbling, even startling, but it is not clear if they reflect bad care or bad metrics. Consumer Reports, similar to many other rating scales, has glued together a hodge-podge of different metrics and converted them into a summary score that may or may not line up with other organizational ratings (e.g. U.S. News and World Report, Leapfrog Group, Healthgrades, etc). Consumer Reports does acknowledge that none of the information for their rankings is actually collected from Consumer Reports but from other sources, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the American Hospital Association (AHA).

The Bottom Line

Despite all this attention from Consumer Reports and others, online ratings are only used by about 14% of consumers to review hospitals or health-care facilities and by about 17% of consumers to review physicians or other health-care providers.² Although the uptick is relatively low for use of online ratings to seek health care, that likely will change as the measurements get better and are more reflective of true care quality.

The bottom line for consumers is: Where do I want to be hospitalized when I get sick, and can I tell at the front end in which aspects a hospital is going to do well?

I think the answer for consumers should be to stay informed, always have an advocate at your side, and never stop asking questions.And for now, relegate Consumer Reports to purchases, not health care.

Dr. Scheurer is a hospitalist and chief quality officer at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She is physician editor of The Hospitalist. Email her at [email protected].

References

1. Consumer Reports. How we rate hospitals. Consumer Reports website. Available at: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/10/how-we-rate-hospitals/index.htm. Accessed May 12, 2013.
2. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Peer-to-peer health care. Pew Internet website. Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Health-online/Part-Two/Section-2.aspx. Accessed May 12, 2013.

I continue to believe that hospitalists should routinely provide patients a copy of their discharge summary. I made the case for this in a 2006 column (“Keeping Patients in the Loop,” October 2006, p. 74), but I don’t see the idea catching on. I bet this simple act would have all kinds of benefits, including at least modest reductions in overall health-care expenditures and readmissions.

The whole dynamic of this issue seems to be changing as a result of “patient portals” allowing direct access to review test results and, in some cases, physician documentation. Typically, these are integrated with or at least connected to an electronic health record (EHR) and allow a patient, and those provided access (e.g. the password) by the patient, to review records. My own PCP provides access to a portal that I’ve found very useful, but I think, like most others, it doesn’t provide access to physician notes.

So there still is a case to be made for hospitalists (and all specialties) to provide copies of the discharge summary directly to patients and perhaps other forms of documentation as well.

Timeliness

I think all discharge summaries should be completed before the patient leaves the hospital and amended as needed to capture any last-minute changes and details. The act of generating the summary often leads the discharging doctor to notice, and have a chance to address, important details that may have dropped off the daily problem list. Things like the need to recheck a lab test to ensure normalization prior to discharge, or make arrangements for outpatient colonoscopy to pursue the heme-positive stool found on admission, have sometimes slipped off the radar during the hospital stay and can be caught when preparing discharge summary.

Preparing a discharge summary the night before anticipated discharge can have many advantages, including improving early discharge times the next morning. And it means the doctor can prepare the summary late in the day after routine rounding is finished and interruptions are less likely. Although I think quality of care is enhanced by generating the summary the night before (and amending it as needed), I worked with a hospital that was cited by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for doing this and was told they can’t be done prior to the calendar day of discharge.

Creation of the discharge summary isn’t the only relevant step. It should be transcribed on a stat basis (e.g. within two to four hours) and pushed to the PCP and other treating physicians. It isn’t enough that the document is available to the PCP via an EHR; these doctors need some sort of notice, such as an email.

To take advantage of the new “transitional-care management” codes (99495 and 99496), PCPs must make telephone contact with patients within two days of discharge and must have a face-to-face visit within one or two weeks of discharge (depending on whether the patient is high- or moderate-risk). Making the summary available to the PCP quickly can be crucial in ensuring these phone calls and visits are meaningful. (For an excellent review of the TCM codes, see Dr. Lauren Doctoroff’s article “New Codes Bridge Hospitals’ Post-Discharge Billing Gap” in the February 2013 issue of The Hospitalist.)

So I think both patients and other treating physicians should get the discharge summary on the day of discharge or no more than a day or two after. I bet this improves quality of care and readmissions, but one study found no association, and another found a trend toward reduced readmissions that did not reach statistical significance.^1,2

Content

Just what information should go in a discharge summary? There are lots of opinions here, but it is worth starting with the components required by The Joint Commission. (You were aware of these, right?) The commission requires:

• Reason for hospitalization;
• Significant findings;
• Procedures and treatment provided;
• Patient’s discharge condition;
• Patient and family instructions; and
• Attending physician’s signature

To this list, I would add enumeration of tests pending at discharge.

The May/June 2005 issue of The Hospitalist has a terrific article by three thoughtful hospitalists titled “Advancing Toward the Ideal Hospital Discharge for the Elderly Patient.” It summarizes a 2005 workshop at the SHM annual meeting that produced a checklist of elements to consider including in every summary.

Brevity is a worthwhile goal but not at the expense of conveying the thought processes behind decisions. Things like how a decision was made to pursue watchful waiting versus aggressive workup now should be spelled out. Was it simply patient preference? It is common to start a trial of a medical therapy during a hospital stay, and it should be made clear that its effect should be assessed and a deliberate decision regarding continuing or stopping the therapy will be needed after discharge.

Lots of things need context and explanation for subsequent caregivers.

Format

The hospital in which I practice recently switched to a new EHR, and our hospitalist group has talked some about all of us using the same basic template for our notes. This should be valuable to all other caregivers who read a reasonable number of our notes and might improve our communication with one another around handoffs, etc. Although we haven’t reached a final decision about this, I’m an advocate for a shared template rather than each doctor using his or her own. This would be a worthwhile thing for all groups to consider.

Dr. Nelson has been a practicing hospitalist since 1988. He is co-founder and past president of SHM, and principal in Nelson Flores Hospital Medicine Consultants. He is co-director for SHM’s “Best Practices in Managing a Hospital Medicine Program” course. Write to him at [email protected].

References

1. Hanson LO. Hospital discharge documentation and risk of rehospitalization. BMJ Qual Saf. 2011;20(9):773-778.
2. Van Walraven C, Seth R, Austin PC, Laupacis A. Effect of discharge summary availability during post-discharge visits on hospital readmission. J Gen Intern Med. 2002;17(3):186-192.

I continue to believe that hospitalists should routinely provide patients a copy of their discharge summary. I made the case for this in a 2006 column (“Keeping Patients in the Loop,” October 2006, p. 74), but I don’t see the idea catching on. I bet this simple act would have all kinds of benefits, including at least modest reductions in overall health-care expenditures and readmissions.

The whole dynamic of this issue seems to be changing as a result of “patient portals” allowing direct access to review test results and, in some cases, physician documentation. Typically, these are integrated with or at least connected to an electronic health record (EHR) and allow a patient, and those provided access (e.g. the password) by the patient, to review records. My own PCP provides access to a portal that I’ve found very useful, but I think, like most others, it doesn’t provide access to physician notes.

So there still is a case to be made for hospitalists (and all specialties) to provide copies of the discharge summary directly to patients and perhaps other forms of documentation as well.

Timeliness

I think all discharge summaries should be completed before the patient leaves the hospital and amended as needed to capture any last-minute changes and details. The act of generating the summary often leads the discharging doctor to notice, and have a chance to address, important details that may have dropped off the daily problem list. Things like the need to recheck a lab test to ensure normalization prior to discharge, or make arrangements for outpatient colonoscopy to pursue the heme-positive stool found on admission, have sometimes slipped off the radar during the hospital stay and can be caught when preparing discharge summary.

Preparing a discharge summary the night before anticipated discharge can have many advantages, including improving early discharge times the next morning. And it means the doctor can prepare the summary late in the day after routine rounding is finished and interruptions are less likely. Although I think quality of care is enhanced by generating the summary the night before (and amending it as needed), I worked with a hospital that was cited by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for doing this and was told they can’t be done prior to the calendar day of discharge.

Creation of the discharge summary isn’t the only relevant step. It should be transcribed on a stat basis (e.g. within two to four hours) and pushed to the PCP and other treating physicians. It isn’t enough that the document is available to the PCP via an EHR; these doctors need some sort of notice, such as an email.

To take advantage of the new “transitional-care management” codes (99495 and 99496), PCPs must make telephone contact with patients within two days of discharge and must have a face-to-face visit within one or two weeks of discharge (depending on whether the patient is high- or moderate-risk). Making the summary available to the PCP quickly can be crucial in ensuring these phone calls and visits are meaningful. (For an excellent review of the TCM codes, see Dr. Lauren Doctoroff’s article “New Codes Bridge Hospitals’ Post-Discharge Billing Gap” in the February 2013 issue of The Hospitalist.)

So I think both patients and other treating physicians should get the discharge summary on the day of discharge or no more than a day or two after. I bet this improves quality of care and readmissions, but one study found no association, and another found a trend toward reduced readmissions that did not reach statistical significance.^1,2

Content

Just what information should go in a discharge summary? There are lots of opinions here, but it is worth starting with the components required by The Joint Commission. (You were aware of these, right?) The commission requires:

• Reason for hospitalization;
• Significant findings;
• Procedures and treatment provided;
• Patient’s discharge condition;
• Patient and family instructions; and
• Attending physician’s signature

To this list, I would add enumeration of tests pending at discharge.

The May/June 2005 issue of The Hospitalist has a terrific article by three thoughtful hospitalists titled “Advancing Toward the Ideal Hospital Discharge for the Elderly Patient.” It summarizes a 2005 workshop at the SHM annual meeting that produced a checklist of elements to consider including in every summary.

Brevity is a worthwhile goal but not at the expense of conveying the thought processes behind decisions. Things like how a decision was made to pursue watchful waiting versus aggressive workup now should be spelled out. Was it simply patient preference? It is common to start a trial of a medical therapy during a hospital stay, and it should be made clear that its effect should be assessed and a deliberate decision regarding continuing or stopping the therapy will be needed after discharge.

Lots of things need context and explanation for subsequent caregivers.

Format

The hospital in which I practice recently switched to a new EHR, and our hospitalist group has talked some about all of us using the same basic template for our notes. This should be valuable to all other caregivers who read a reasonable number of our notes and might improve our communication with one another around handoffs, etc. Although we haven’t reached a final decision about this, I’m an advocate for a shared template rather than each doctor using his or her own. This would be a worthwhile thing for all groups to consider.

Dr. Nelson has been a practicing hospitalist since 1988. He is co-founder and past president of SHM, and principal in Nelson Flores Hospital Medicine Consultants. He is co-director for SHM’s “Best Practices in Managing a Hospital Medicine Program” course. Write to him at [email protected].

References

1. Hanson LO. Hospital discharge documentation and risk of rehospitalization. BMJ Qual Saf. 2011;20(9):773-778.
2. Van Walraven C, Seth R, Austin PC, Laupacis A. Effect of discharge summary availability during post-discharge visits on hospital readmission. J Gen Intern Med. 2002;17(3):186-192.

I continue to believe that hospitalists should routinely provide patients a copy of their discharge summary. I made the case for this in a 2006 column (“Keeping Patients in the Loop,” October 2006, p. 74), but I don’t see the idea catching on. I bet this simple act would have all kinds of benefits, including at least modest reductions in overall health-care expenditures and readmissions.

The whole dynamic of this issue seems to be changing as a result of “patient portals” allowing direct access to review test results and, in some cases, physician documentation. Typically, these are integrated with or at least connected to an electronic health record (EHR) and allow a patient, and those provided access (e.g. the password) by the patient, to review records. My own PCP provides access to a portal that I’ve found very useful, but I think, like most others, it doesn’t provide access to physician notes.

So there still is a case to be made for hospitalists (and all specialties) to provide copies of the discharge summary directly to patients and perhaps other forms of documentation as well.

Timeliness

I think all discharge summaries should be completed before the patient leaves the hospital and amended as needed to capture any last-minute changes and details. The act of generating the summary often leads the discharging doctor to notice, and have a chance to address, important details that may have dropped off the daily problem list. Things like the need to recheck a lab test to ensure normalization prior to discharge, or make arrangements for outpatient colonoscopy to pursue the heme-positive stool found on admission, have sometimes slipped off the radar during the hospital stay and can be caught when preparing discharge summary.

Preparing a discharge summary the night before anticipated discharge can have many advantages, including improving early discharge times the next morning. And it means the doctor can prepare the summary late in the day after routine rounding is finished and interruptions are less likely. Although I think quality of care is enhanced by generating the summary the night before (and amending it as needed), I worked with a hospital that was cited by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for doing this and was told they can’t be done prior to the calendar day of discharge.

Creation of the discharge summary isn’t the only relevant step. It should be transcribed on a stat basis (e.g. within two to four hours) and pushed to the PCP and other treating physicians. It isn’t enough that the document is available to the PCP via an EHR; these doctors need some sort of notice, such as an email.

To take advantage of the new “transitional-care management” codes (99495 and 99496), PCPs must make telephone contact with patients within two days of discharge and must have a face-to-face visit within one or two weeks of discharge (depending on whether the patient is high- or moderate-risk). Making the summary available to the PCP quickly can be crucial in ensuring these phone calls and visits are meaningful. (For an excellent review of the TCM codes, see Dr. Lauren Doctoroff’s article “New Codes Bridge Hospitals’ Post-Discharge Billing Gap” in the February 2013 issue of The Hospitalist.)

So I think both patients and other treating physicians should get the discharge summary on the day of discharge or no more than a day or two after. I bet this improves quality of care and readmissions, but one study found no association, and another found a trend toward reduced readmissions that did not reach statistical significance.^1,2

Content

Just what information should go in a discharge summary? There are lots of opinions here, but it is worth starting with the components required by The Joint Commission. (You were aware of these, right?) The commission requires:

• Reason for hospitalization;
• Significant findings;
• Procedures and treatment provided;
• Patient’s discharge condition;
• Patient and family instructions; and
• Attending physician’s signature

To this list, I would add enumeration of tests pending at discharge.

The May/June 2005 issue of The Hospitalist has a terrific article by three thoughtful hospitalists titled “Advancing Toward the Ideal Hospital Discharge for the Elderly Patient.” It summarizes a 2005 workshop at the SHM annual meeting that produced a checklist of elements to consider including in every summary.

Brevity is a worthwhile goal but not at the expense of conveying the thought processes behind decisions. Things like how a decision was made to pursue watchful waiting versus aggressive workup now should be spelled out. Was it simply patient preference? It is common to start a trial of a medical therapy during a hospital stay, and it should be made clear that its effect should be assessed and a deliberate decision regarding continuing or stopping the therapy will be needed after discharge.

Lots of things need context and explanation for subsequent caregivers.

Format

The hospital in which I practice recently switched to a new EHR, and our hospitalist group has talked some about all of us using the same basic template for our notes. This should be valuable to all other caregivers who read a reasonable number of our notes and might improve our communication with one another around handoffs, etc. Although we haven’t reached a final decision about this, I’m an advocate for a shared template rather than each doctor using his or her own. This would be a worthwhile thing for all groups to consider.

Dr. Nelson has been a practicing hospitalist since 1988. He is co-founder and past president of SHM, and principal in Nelson Flores Hospital Medicine Consultants. He is co-director for SHM’s “Best Practices in Managing a Hospital Medicine Program” course. Write to him at [email protected].

References

1. Hanson LO. Hospital discharge documentation and risk of rehospitalization. BMJ Qual Saf. 2011;20(9):773-778.
2. Van Walraven C, Seth R, Austin PC, Laupacis A. Effect of discharge summary availability during post-discharge visits on hospital readmission. J Gen Intern Med. 2002;17(3):186-192.

Clinical question: Can a prediction model based on administrative and clinical data identify potentially avoidable 30-day readmissions in medical patients prior to discharge?

Background: An estimated 18% of Medicare beneficiaries are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, costing nearly $17 billion per year. Interventions to reduce readmission rates are costly and should be focused on high-risk patients. To date, using models to predict 30-day readmission has been problematic and unreliable.

Study design: Retrospective cohort.

Setting: Academic medical center in Boston.

Synopsis: Using consecutive discharges from all medical services of Brigham and Women’s Hospital occurring over one year, this study derived and internally validated a prediction model for potentially avoidable 30-day readmissions. Of 10,731 discharges, there were 2,399 (22%) 30-day readmissions, and 879 (8.5%) were deemed potentially avoidable. Seven independent predictors for readmission were identified and used to create a predictor score referred to as the HOSPITAL score. Predictors included hemoglobin and sodium levels at discharge, number of hospitalizations in the past year, and four features of the index hospitalization, including type, discharge from an oncology service, presence of procedures, and length of stay. The score was internally validated and found to predict potentially avoidable 30-day readmission in medical patients with fair discriminatory power and good calibration.

This study is unique in that none of the classic comorbidities (e.g. congestive heart failure) were associated with a higher risk of 30-day readmission. Previously unrecognized predictors, including hemoglobin, sodium, and number of procedures performed, were incorporated. This suggests that comorbidities are not as important as illness severity or clinical instability. Hospitalists should await studies that externally validate the HOSPITAL score before incorporating it into practice.

Bottom line: A unique and simple seven-item prediction model identifies potentially avoidable 30-day readmissions but needs to be externally validated before being widely utilized.

Citation: Donze J, Drahomir A, Williams D, Schnipper JL. Potentially avoidable 30-day hospital readmissions in medical patients. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;137(8):632-638.

Clinical question: Can a prediction model based on administrative and clinical data identify potentially avoidable 30-day readmissions in medical patients prior to discharge?

Background: An estimated 18% of Medicare beneficiaries are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, costing nearly $17 billion per year. Interventions to reduce readmission rates are costly and should be focused on high-risk patients. To date, using models to predict 30-day readmission has been problematic and unreliable.

Study design: Retrospective cohort.

Setting: Academic medical center in Boston.

Synopsis: Using consecutive discharges from all medical services of Brigham and Women’s Hospital occurring over one year, this study derived and internally validated a prediction model for potentially avoidable 30-day readmissions. Of 10,731 discharges, there were 2,399 (22%) 30-day readmissions, and 879 (8.5%) were deemed potentially avoidable. Seven independent predictors for readmission were identified and used to create a predictor score referred to as the HOSPITAL score. Predictors included hemoglobin and sodium levels at discharge, number of hospitalizations in the past year, and four features of the index hospitalization, including type, discharge from an oncology service, presence of procedures, and length of stay. The score was internally validated and found to predict potentially avoidable 30-day readmission in medical patients with fair discriminatory power and good calibration.

This study is unique in that none of the classic comorbidities (e.g. congestive heart failure) were associated with a higher risk of 30-day readmission. Previously unrecognized predictors, including hemoglobin, sodium, and number of procedures performed, were incorporated. This suggests that comorbidities are not as important as illness severity or clinical instability. Hospitalists should await studies that externally validate the HOSPITAL score before incorporating it into practice.

Bottom line: A unique and simple seven-item prediction model identifies potentially avoidable 30-day readmissions but needs to be externally validated before being widely utilized.

Citation: Donze J, Drahomir A, Williams D, Schnipper JL. Potentially avoidable 30-day hospital readmissions in medical patients. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;137(8):632-638.

Clinical question: Can a prediction model based on administrative and clinical data identify potentially avoidable 30-day readmissions in medical patients prior to discharge?

Background: An estimated 18% of Medicare beneficiaries are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, costing nearly $17 billion per year. Interventions to reduce readmission rates are costly and should be focused on high-risk patients. To date, using models to predict 30-day readmission has been problematic and unreliable.

Study design: Retrospective cohort.

Setting: Academic medical center in Boston.

Synopsis: Using consecutive discharges from all medical services of Brigham and Women’s Hospital occurring over one year, this study derived and internally validated a prediction model for potentially avoidable 30-day readmissions. Of 10,731 discharges, there were 2,399 (22%) 30-day readmissions, and 879 (8.5%) were deemed potentially avoidable. Seven independent predictors for readmission were identified and used to create a predictor score referred to as the HOSPITAL score. Predictors included hemoglobin and sodium levels at discharge, number of hospitalizations in the past year, and four features of the index hospitalization, including type, discharge from an oncology service, presence of procedures, and length of stay. The score was internally validated and found to predict potentially avoidable 30-day readmission in medical patients with fair discriminatory power and good calibration.

This study is unique in that none of the classic comorbidities (e.g. congestive heart failure) were associated with a higher risk of 30-day readmission. Previously unrecognized predictors, including hemoglobin, sodium, and number of procedures performed, were incorporated. This suggests that comorbidities are not as important as illness severity or clinical instability. Hospitalists should await studies that externally validate the HOSPITAL score before incorporating it into practice.

Bottom line: A unique and simple seven-item prediction model identifies potentially avoidable 30-day readmissions but needs to be externally validated before being widely utilized.

Citation: Donze J, Drahomir A, Williams D, Schnipper JL. Potentially avoidable 30-day hospital readmissions in medical patients. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;137(8):632-638.

Click here to listen to excerpts of Dr. Duke's interview with The Hospitalist

Click here to listen to excerpts of Dr. Duke's interview with The Hospitalist

Click here to listen to excerpts of Dr. Duke's interview with The Hospitalist

Many health-care-reform initiatives are so new that few data are available to assess whether they are working as intended. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), however, has touted the early numbers from its Hospital Readmission Reduction Program to suggest that the policy is making a difference in curbing bounce-backs. The overall impact, however, might be decidedly more nuanced and provides a telling example of the challenges that such programs can present to hospitalists and other health-care providers.

At a Senate Finance Committee Hearing in February, Jonathan Blum, deputy administrator and director for the Center of Medicare at CMS, released data suggesting that 30-day readmission rates for all causes dropped to 17.8% of hospitalizations near the end of 2012 after remaining at roughly 19% in each of the five previous years. The difference translates into 70,000 fewer readmissions annually.

During the first round of penalties, CMS dinged 2,213 hospitals for an estimated $280 million, or an average of about $126,500 per hospital, for excessive readmissions linked to heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia care. Blum made the case that the penalties—or the threat thereof—are helping to improve rates.

Those arguing that the policy could disproportionately impact institutions caring for more vulnerable, high-risk patients also found new support in a recent New England Journal of Medicine perspective suggesting that academic medical centers and safety-net hospitals were more likely to be penalized.¹ Among their suggestions, the perspective’s co-authors, from Harvard’s School of Public Health, suggested that the policy take patient socioeconomic status into account to provide a fairer basis of comparison.

A second recent study suggested that even the reduced readmission rates might not be telling the whole story. An analysis of patients released in 2010 from safety-net hospital Boston Medical Center showed that nearly 1 in 4 returned to the ED within a month of discharge.2 But more than half of those patients weren’t readmitted as inpatients, meaning that they wouldn’t show up under Medicare’s readmissions statistics.

Along with the mixed early reviews of EHR rollouts and the HCAHPS portion of the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program, it’s another reminder that CMS metrics and incentives might not always add up as envisioned. In the near future, it seems, hospitals and health-care providers might have to contend with some imperfect numbers. TH

Bryn Nelson is a freelance medical writer in Seattle.

References

1. Joynt KE, Jha AK. Thirty-day readmissions–truth and consequences. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:1366-1369.

2. Rising KL, White LF, Fernandez WG, Boutwell, AE. Emergency department visits after hospital discharge: a missing part of the equation. Ann Emerg Med. 2013; in press.

Many health-care-reform initiatives are so new that few data are available to assess whether they are working as intended. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), however, has touted the early numbers from its Hospital Readmission Reduction Program to suggest that the policy is making a difference in curbing bounce-backs. The overall impact, however, might be decidedly more nuanced and provides a telling example of the challenges that such programs can present to hospitalists and other health-care providers.

At a Senate Finance Committee Hearing in February, Jonathan Blum, deputy administrator and director for the Center of Medicare at CMS, released data suggesting that 30-day readmission rates for all causes dropped to 17.8% of hospitalizations near the end of 2012 after remaining at roughly 19% in each of the five previous years. The difference translates into 70,000 fewer readmissions annually.

During the first round of penalties, CMS dinged 2,213 hospitals for an estimated $280 million, or an average of about $126,500 per hospital, for excessive readmissions linked to heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia care. Blum made the case that the penalties—or the threat thereof—are helping to improve rates.

Those arguing that the policy could disproportionately impact institutions caring for more vulnerable, high-risk patients also found new support in a recent New England Journal of Medicine perspective suggesting that academic medical centers and safety-net hospitals were more likely to be penalized.¹ Among their suggestions, the perspective’s co-authors, from Harvard’s School of Public Health, suggested that the policy take patient socioeconomic status into account to provide a fairer basis of comparison.

A second recent study suggested that even the reduced readmission rates might not be telling the whole story. An analysis of patients released in 2010 from safety-net hospital Boston Medical Center showed that nearly 1 in 4 returned to the ED within a month of discharge.2 But more than half of those patients weren’t readmitted as inpatients, meaning that they wouldn’t show up under Medicare’s readmissions statistics.

Along with the mixed early reviews of EHR rollouts and the HCAHPS portion of the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program, it’s another reminder that CMS metrics and incentives might not always add up as envisioned. In the near future, it seems, hospitals and health-care providers might have to contend with some imperfect numbers. TH

Bryn Nelson is a freelance medical writer in Seattle.

References

1. Joynt KE, Jha AK. Thirty-day readmissions–truth and consequences. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:1366-1369.

2. Rising KL, White LF, Fernandez WG, Boutwell, AE. Emergency department visits after hospital discharge: a missing part of the equation. Ann Emerg Med. 2013; in press.

Many health-care-reform initiatives are so new that few data are available to assess whether they are working as intended. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), however, has touted the early numbers from its Hospital Readmission Reduction Program to suggest that the policy is making a difference in curbing bounce-backs. The overall impact, however, might be decidedly more nuanced and provides a telling example of the challenges that such programs can present to hospitalists and other health-care providers.

At a Senate Finance Committee Hearing in February, Jonathan Blum, deputy administrator and director for the Center of Medicare at CMS, released data suggesting that 30-day readmission rates for all causes dropped to 17.8% of hospitalizations near the end of 2012 after remaining at roughly 19% in each of the five previous years. The difference translates into 70,000 fewer readmissions annually.

During the first round of penalties, CMS dinged 2,213 hospitals for an estimated $280 million, or an average of about $126,500 per hospital, for excessive readmissions linked to heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia care. Blum made the case that the penalties—or the threat thereof—are helping to improve rates.

Those arguing that the policy could disproportionately impact institutions caring for more vulnerable, high-risk patients also found new support in a recent New England Journal of Medicine perspective suggesting that academic medical centers and safety-net hospitals were more likely to be penalized.¹ Among their suggestions, the perspective’s co-authors, from Harvard’s School of Public Health, suggested that the policy take patient socioeconomic status into account to provide a fairer basis of comparison.

A second recent study suggested that even the reduced readmission rates might not be telling the whole story. An analysis of patients released in 2010 from safety-net hospital Boston Medical Center showed that nearly 1 in 4 returned to the ED within a month of discharge.2 But more than half of those patients weren’t readmitted as inpatients, meaning that they wouldn’t show up under Medicare’s readmissions statistics.

Along with the mixed early reviews of EHR rollouts and the HCAHPS portion of the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program, it’s another reminder that CMS metrics and incentives might not always add up as envisioned. In the near future, it seems, hospitals and health-care providers might have to contend with some imperfect numbers. TH

Bryn Nelson is a freelance medical writer in Seattle.

References

1. Joynt KE, Jha AK. Thirty-day readmissions–truth and consequences. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:1366-1369.

2. Rising KL, White LF, Fernandez WG, Boutwell, AE. Emergency department visits after hospital discharge: a missing part of the equation. Ann Emerg Med. 2013; in press.