CMS to Allow Certain Non-physician Practitioners to Furnish Inpatient Service Orders

On September 5, CMS  announced that it will allow certain non-physician practitioners to furnish orders for  Medicare Part A's hospital inpatient services.  The announcement stipulates the information that orders must include, as well as the practitioners who can now document these orders.  These practitioners include:  physician assistants, residents, and registered nurses.  Order documentation must adhere to state law, hospital policies, and medical staff bylaws and rules.

Read more from CMS and the AHA. 

Fierce Healthcare: Nurse Practitioners Seek Insurer Credentials to Practice Primary Care

Insurer exclusion major barrier to independent practices 

Jack Budryk, September 10, 2013

To help meet the growing need for primary care services, nurse practitioners are asking the Obama administration to require insurers to credential them, Kaiser Health News reports. 

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates approximately half of the nation's nurse practitioners (NPs) work in physicians' offices. According to Deanna Tolman, an Aurora, Colo.-area advanced practice nurse, many NPs do not go into business for themselves because it's hard to get insurers to include them. "We're in this gray area: Insurers are fine with us providing care as long as we're working for physicians. But some of us don't want to work for physicians,"  Tolman told Kaiser Health News

Read the rest at fiercehealthcare.com.

Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program Receives Renewed Authority to Accredit Hospitals

September 3, 2013

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP) continued deeming authority to accredit acute care hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid.  Based on its review of HFAP's hospital accreditation program, CMS has extended HFAP's deeming authority through September 25, 2019.

Read more about it from HFAP.

U-T San Diego: Program Seeks to Help Retired Docs Enter Primary Care

Retired Rancho Santa Fe surgeon behind online refresher course that allows retired physicians, specialists to work in family practice

Paul Sisson, September 4, 2013

A successful career in medicine is neither regularly scheduled nor part time, but a local surgeon hopes to deliver both to retired doctors who want to continue seeing patients a few days a week with none of the usual financial frustrations and time commitments attached. 

In early August, Dr. Leonard Glass, a retired Rancho Santa Fe reconstructive and plastic surgeon, launched Physician Retraining & Reentry, an online course designed to help specialists make the jump to primary care without requiring a return to medical school. 

Read the rest at U-T San Diego.