Author: P Hasselbacher

University of Louisville Hospital Designated as Best Regional Hospital for Cancer in Louisville.

Kudos to my colleagues at University Hospital.

jgbcancercenterI recently wrote about the disappointing representation of Kentucky’s hospitals in this year’s 2015 version of US News & World Reports list of Best Hospitals. Of Kentucky’s approximately 130 acute-care hospitals for adults, not a single one achieved national ranking in any of 16 different specialties. Nine Kentucky Hospitals were designated as a “Best Regional Hospital” by having one or more of 16 specialty services considered “high-performing” as defined by scoring in the top quarter of all eligible hospitals for that specialty nationally.

I went on to discuss what are in my opinion some of the difficulties and shortcomings of current attempts to rank hospitals for quality and safety. I reinforced US News’s stated intent that their program was designed to identify hospitals best suited for the most difficult cases where the services of large, high-volume teaching hospitals with abundant in-house technology might make a difference. Hospitals not on their lists may still provide high quality routine care. With a focus on cardiology and cardiac surgery, I also discussed how the mix of data elements examined can boost or diminish a given hospitals standing [and perhaps even add fuel to the current technology arms-race among hospitals]. Continue reading “University of Louisville Hospital Designated as Best Regional Hospital for Cancer in Louisville.”

Recent Court Decisions Impact University of Louisville Hospital.

Same-sex marriage advances– hospital secrecy recedes.

While I am sure it is coincidental, I find it ironic that on the same weekend the Supreme Court refused to take on the same-sex marriage issue in Washington– thus making such marriages legal in 11 additional states– the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled that University Medical Center Inc. is indeed a public agency. I wondered what was happening to that lingering litigation. I will try to assemble and post the various briefs from the trial and appeals courts and try fill in the gaps. The opinion gives a useful overview of hospital history. Read it here. Continue reading “Recent Court Decisions Impact University of Louisville Hospital.”

Initial Release of CMS Open Payments Program Deeply Deficient.

As a teacher I give a grade of D- with a C+ for effort.

Yesterday I began to dig into the first public report by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services of their Open Payments program, also known as the Sunshine Act. Under this part of the Accountable Care Act (ACA), some (but not all) payments and transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals by pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and group purchasing organizations must be reported. There is little doubt that such payments powerfully influence the practice of medicine for better, but mostly for worse. Initial reporting in the media finds individual physicians and organizations scrambling to justify or to correct the often very startling amounts received.

I still believe the program is a great idea. The public has no idea of the extent to which industry has captured the health policy market, including the professional activities of physicians and other practitioners. Much will be learned by focusing on the outliers on both ends of the curve are already emerging from the mass of data. Indeed, I hope to be able to contribute myself. Nonetheless, in fairness to all involved, it must be recognized that this was a deeply flawed implementation. Continue reading “Initial Release of CMS Open Payments Program Deeply Deficient.”

Sunshine Act Data for Industry Payments to Physicians and Teaching Hospitals Now Available.

Data for Kentucky extracted and available for use below.

Quick overview provided.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the data yesterday for the first iteration of its long-awaited, much-debated, and rollout-impaired Open Payments to Physicians Program, commonly referred to as the Sunshine Act. Federal law now requires that pharmaceutical and medical device companies disclose a variety of cash payments and other transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals. The rationale is the justifiable concern that such payments influence the practice of medicine in an undesirable manner. The Open Payment Programs and other releases of previously hidden information are in response to the demands of the public for more transparency and accountability in healthcare finance and delivery. I think is it a good idea, but we are going to have to learn as we go how to understand and use the information.

Some preliminary observations from “Identified” General Payment File only:
• 4069 Kentucky physicians received a total of $6.6 million in payments for non-research purposes.
• One physician received $230,609.
• An additional 6 physicians received more than $100,000.
• 131 physicians received more than $10,000.
• 50 physicians received more than 100 individual payments each.
• On the other end of the scale, 1810 physicians received less than $100.

Here is a simple scattergram of total payment amounts to each individual KY physician. The curve is heavily skewed to the left. A few are major recipients, most are at the free lunch level. Not included here or in the bullets above are the the many payments from the “de-identified” file for which the names of the physician or hospital are not yet resolved. (See below) Continue reading “Sunshine Act Data for Industry Payments to Physicians and Teaching Hospitals Now Available.”