As of January 1, accredited outpatient surgery settings must now report adverse events to the California Medical Board, rather than the state’s Health Department, no later than five days after the event has been detected. If an adverse event is ongoing or is an emergent threat to the welfare...
More physicians are delaying retirement and practicing longer, and medical staffs across the country are wondering how to help physicians stay in practice longer while promoting quality care. The fact is, many medical staffs aren’t prepared for an aging physician population. If your...
Physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers have formed 123 new accountable care organizations (ACOs) that began operating January 1, providing approximately 1.5 million more Medicare beneficiaries with access to high-quality coordinated care across the United States, the Department f...
Older smokers at high risk of lung cancer should receive annual low-dose CT scans, according to U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations published earlier this week. The USPSTF concluded that the benefits for a very specific segment of smokers outweigh the risks involved in...
The U.S. Medical Licensing Examination’s (USMLE) Step 1 Committee has decided to raise the minimum passing score of the USMLE Step 1 exam from 188 to 192. The decision followed a review of the Step 1 exam and was based on information from multiple sources, including recommendations from...
After holding steady at 19% from 2007 to 2011, the all-cause 30-day hospital readmission rate among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries fell to 18.5% in 2012, and has continued to fall in 2013, according to an entry posted on The CMS Blog website last week. Preliminary claims data shows...
