Posted by Jason Greis on July 20, 2009 under Events | 
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ALTHA is planning an industry-wide LTACH conference to be held in Plano, Texas.
January 13 -15, 2010 – National Clinical Conference
Jan 13, 2010 12:00 PM – Jan 15, 2010 12:00 PM
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Posted by Jason Greis on January 27, 2009 under Articles | Be the First to Comment
On January 14, 2009 the House of Representatives voted to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (“SCHIP”). The House version of the SCHIP bill (HR 2) includes a provision contained in Section 623 proposed by House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Fortney Pete Stark that would prevent construction of new physician-owned hospitals and restrict the expansion of current physician-owned hospitals by amending certain provisions of the Federal physician self-referral law (commonly known as the “Stark Act”). Congressman Stark has said that the provision banning future physician ownership in hospitals would prevent the “unethical kickbacks that physicians receive from ownership in hospitals, most of which are of questionable safety and quality.” This legislation, if passed, would significantly impact current physician ownership and investment interests in LTACHs (e.g., investment by physician joint venture partners) and specialty hospitals and would altogether ban future physician investment and ownership in LTACHs and specialty hospitals. Read More...
Posted by Jason Greis on January 25, 2009 under Articles | Be the First to Comment
The American Hospital Association (“AHA”) urged the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) in a letter dated January 16, 2009 to prevent the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) from implementing a rule requiring up to 400 randomly selected hospitals (including LTACHs) to report information, supply documents, and make certain legal certifications regarding their relationships with physicians in a Disclosure of Financial Relationships Report (“DFRR”). Read More...
Posted by Jason Greis on January 22, 2009 under Articles | Be the First to Comment
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has issued three Coverage Decision Memorandums establishing National Coverage Determinations (NCDs) that “wrong surgeries” — surgeries on the wrong body part, surgeries on the wrong patient, and the wrong procedure — are not covered by Medicare. The wrong body party, wrong patient, and wrong procedure NCDs are effective January 15, 2009 and apply to all provider types and coverage under both Part A and Part B. Read More...
Posted by Jason Greis on January 21, 2009 under Articles | Be the First to Comment
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final regulation on Jan. 15, 2009 giving health care providers (including LTACHs) and plans two additional years-until October 1, 2013-to adopt the new health care coding system, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). Under a proposed rule issued in August 2008, health care providers would have been required to adopt ICD-10 by October 2011. This new coding system greatly expands on the ICD-9-CM codes sets, which were developed nearly thirty years ago. HHS agreed to delay the compliance deadline in order to accommodate the concerns (generally concerns regarding implementation and training costs) of over 3,000 commenters urging that more time is needed for effective industry implementation of the new coding system. Read More...
Posted by Jason Greis on January 19, 2009 under Whitepapers | Be the First to Comment
I have recently spoken with a number of LTACH administrators and CEOs interested in entering into compensated call coverage arrangements or expanding the scope of their existing compensated call coverage programs with hospitalists, intensivists, and other physicians. Call coverage arrangements generally provide an excellent opportunity for LTACHs to align hospital and physician patient care objectives and for creating strategic long-term relationships with physicians in the community. These arrangements, however, also have the potential to adversely impact a hospital’s bottom line and raise a number of practical legal and business considerations discussed below that should be carefully considered. Read More...
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