CMS Seeks Comments on Anti-Kickback Statute Reform

The Trump Administration has continued to identify potential barriers to care coordination and value-based care incentives through changes to current regulation, as part of the Administration’s “ regulatory sprint towards coordinated care .” These changes have been primarily focused on modernizing fraud and abuse laws, as noted by the June 25, 2018 Request For Information (RFI) seeking public comments on reforming the physician self-referral law, commonly known as the Stark Law . On August 24, 2018, the same day that comments were due for the Stark Law RFI, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published another RFI seeking public input on changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and beneficiary inducements in the Civil Monetary Penalty (CMP) Law. (Read more...)

Valuation of Urgent Care Centers in an Era of Reform

As demand for healthcare services continues to grow, the site at which these services are performed is experiencing a simultaneous transformation from the inpatient (e.g., hospital) setting to the outpatient setting. One such example of a growing subset of outpatient enterprises includes urgent care centers (UCCs) and other retail clinics. UCCs have become vitally important healthcare resources for people across the U.S., with approximately two new walk-in clinics opening up every single day. (Read more...)

Nonprofit Hospital Executive Salaries Outpace Those of Clinicians

Healthcare management and other nonclinical workers are essential for the efficient functioning of a modern healthcare system, which has become increasingly complex given the growing “ burden ” of nonclinical tasks such as documentation. As healthcare costs continue to rise, the wages and value of nonclinical staff, especially CEOs, have been examined more critically. A recent study in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research compared the wages of nonprofit hospital chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) to categories of clinical workers over a 10-year period, and found an increasing wage gap between executives and clinical staff at 22 major nonprofit hospital.” (Read more...)

Micro-Hospitals: The Technological Environment

Technology has a broad meaning when applied to healthcare. It can range from the tangible tools and software that providers use during the provision of clinical services and the management of patient records to the procedures that constitute the standardized course of care. The fifth and final installment of this series will explore how various healthcare technologies have supported the expansion of micro-hospitals, and how it may contribute to the sustained success of this novel provider. (Read more...)

ANNOUNCING

Advanced Distance Education to Launch in 2018

The Institute for Healthcare Valuation (IHV) & Consultants' Training Institute (CTI) are pleased to announce premier healthcare valuation training through a distance education program, the Certificate of Educational Achievement (CEA) for Advanced Education in Healthcare Valuation. The program will launch in 2018 and will bridge the interdisciplinary nature of healthcare valuation to include: the Four Pillars of Healthcare (regulatory, reimbursement, competition, and technology); the market forces shaping the U.S. healthcare industry; and the valuation of healthcare enterprises, assets, and services. Legal professionals and healthcare providers, as well as those wishing to expand their scope of activities in healthcare valuation engagements and those seeking to enhance their current healthcare valuation service lines, will gain comprehensive knowledge through completing the expansive program. The program has been developed and is being presented by industry thought leader Health Capital Consultants , alongside a blockbuster faculty of healthcare subject matter experts from the legal, federal regulatory, and valuation professions.

HCC President, Todd Zigrang , and Vice President and General Counsel, Jessica Bailey-Wheaton , were recently interviewed by the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) , where they discussed the development of the distance education program along with the topics that will be covered. Click HERE to watch the entire interview.