News From Around the Web
> A Canadian emergency room physician has been suspended for unprofessional conduct for at least a month for unlawfully accessing the electronic health records of several individuals who were not her patients. She admitted accessing the records using the log-in information of 12 fellow doctors who had not logged out of the EHR system. Article
> A new bill introduced in North Carolina's state senate would require hospitals to disclose their prices for 50 common procedures on the state's health information exchange. The bill also would impose additional obligations for hospitals, such as publicizing their charity policies, according to the Charlotte Observer. Article
> The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has posted its update to the 2014 eligible hospital clinical quality measures and corresponding specifications. CMS also released resources to help providers with the update. The annual update for eligible professionals will be released in June. Website
Health Finance News
> Despite receiving extra payments because of their isolation in rural communities, the mortality rates at critical access hospitals appear to be on the rise. Mortality rates at critical access hospitals have been increasing 0.1 percent annually in recent years, and stood at 13.3 percent in 2010. That compares to a dropping mortality rate at other hospitals. Article
> The era of healthcare-related credit cards has waned since the Great Recession, accelerated in part by the likelihood of greater access to insurance starting next year. Chase, Capital One and Humana all have discontinued their credit programs for healthcare. Article
Provider News
> About 75 percent of older adults "at high risk of dying in the next 6 months" said they had thought about end-of-life care before being hospitalized, The majority of respondents said they discussed their goals for care with a family member, however, most of the patients--all of whom suffer from advanced pulmonary, cardiac disease, liver disease or metastatic cancer--had not discussed their end-of-life wishes with their primary care physicians or hospital clinicians. Article
> The National Committee for Quality Assurance has launched a new program to recognize the role of specialists in the patient-centered medical home. The typical U.S. primary care physician coordinates with 229 physicians across 117 different practices, NCQA estimates; the average Medicare beneficiary sees seven physicians and fills more than 20 prescriptions each year. Article
And Finally... I definitely won't forget to clean my house tonight. Article