HHS investigating its Joint Commission policies

While officials won't say exactly what's gotten them stirred up, HHS appears to have some questions about the Joint Commission's hospital accreditation policies. The HHS Inspector General's office has said that it plans to take a look at the government's policies on Joint Commission hospital accreditations in fiscal 2008. While it hasn't given a detailed explanation of what it's looking for, the IG did suggest that a 2004 change allowing hospitals to evaluate themselves was a concern.

In addition to hospital accreditation, the IG expects to look at a wide range of additional issues, including the rising level of Medicare DSH payments, Medicare bad debt reporting, reimbursement for X-rays and radiology interpretations in EDs and payment methodology for ambulatory surgery centers [1].

To find out more about the investigation:
- read this Modern Healthcare article [2]

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