Washington Post reports that CMS has issued a new rule requiring hospice providers participating in Medicare to implement a quality assessment and improvement system. The rule, set to take effect in December, mandates that hospices allow patients to help decide on treatment plans and demonstrate improvement in areas where they are found deficient.

Kaiser Daily News: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has awarded a total of $24.5 million to its highest-performing members in a Medicare pay-for-performance project.

Read More on Press Release: CMS Recognizes Hospitals in Medicare Pay-for-Performance Pilot Project With Financial Awards

Sarah Mcintosh, in Kansas reports the increase of in-store health clinics opening in pharmacies. These in-store clinics offer both acute and preventative care. They also provide price transparency by posting a list of services and prices ahead of time.

With in-store health clinics, consumers don’t have to worry about going to the doctor’s office when it is closed, or making a trip to the emergency room for the “common cold”.

Physicians have long been vocal in their concerns over the ever-growing number of report cards attempting to report on the physician's quality of care. Many of these reports are of course made available by the insurers. What's a doc to do?

The Sun Herald carries this press release from the American Health Care Association that softly agrees with Medicare's latest plan to beef up the Nursing Home Compare site, but with additional cautions; of interest is the Association's desire that CMS include patient satisfaction measures.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: (CMS) will soon launch a ranking system of America’s nursing homes using a “star” rating.

The ratings will be available on the agency’s Nursing Home Compare Web site by the end of the year.

From HealthData Management: An online community web site for family members, nurses, social workers, and others who care for the aged and chronically ill have been developed by The National Family Caregivers Association and Intel Corp.

Consumers are able to view a variety of networks which caregivers can join, based on their needs and interests. There is also a section with information on chronic disease and conditions, and a section where patients can share their stories.

The American Medical Association (AMA): recently launched the Cure for Claims campaign to help improve processing medical claims with health insurers. They have created their first National Health Insurer Report Card on claims processing.

The Report Card illustrates the claims processing performance of Medicare and seven national commercial health insurers:

• Aetna
• Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield
• CIGNA
• Coventry Health Care
• Health Net
• Humana

iHealthBeat has this story: Recently, health care web sites have seen an increase in the number of hits. More interactive features are being developed providing reliable resources for medical information. Consumers are advised not to consider the information on a site to be a substitute for professional medical advice; however it provides useful tools and resources to assist patients.

Stacey Burling at the Philly news writes on hospital pricing::

It has been difficult for consumers to find out the exact cost hospitals charge for a procedure. With the increase of high-deductible insurance plans/no insurance, consumers have more of a reason to care and inquire about medical costs... Medicare has started publishing the amount they pay individual hospitals. This can allow patients to have a better understanding on what care actually costs.

iHealthBeat: Two Web sites have been developed to allow consumers to update their friends and family members about their medical treatment and recovery process. Friends and family are able to post messages on these sites to provide support and encouragement for patients.

Modern Healthcare: The Joint Commission has developed seven new inpatient psychiatric measures. These measures will eventually be used on the Quality Check web site- which allows consumers to compare hospitals.

New Hospital-Based Inpatient Psychiatric Service Measures:
(Beginning October 1st)

• Admission screening for violence risk
• Substance use
• Psychological-trauma history and patient strengths completed

Robin at Managed Care Contracting recently sent us a link and we've added her blog to the roll on the right. Robin covers health care transparency from time to time, especially as it impacts the relationship between payors and providers.

Robin had also given us a heads-up about Arizona's new hospital compare site at www.azhospitalchoice.org, another site in the long line of hospital association-sponsored Web sites. It's old news now (my fault, not Robin's), but worth checking out.

The Commonwealth Fund has launched state scorecards on children’s health system performance. Thirteen performance indicators of access, quality, costs, equity, and the potential to lead healthy lives were measured.

The Commonwealth Fund has illustrated an interactive United States map providing state-specific details for consumers.

AHA News: Consumer Reports launched a Web site that lets consumers compare how intensely hospitals treat patients with certain serious chronic conditions. Data is derived from the Dartmouth Atlas Project.

The tool does not provide information on the quality of hospital care. They currently offer assessments on health insurance plans, drugs, and some medical treatments.