Healthcare Reform

Click here to read about Virginia fact sheets on the immediate benefits of the Affordable Care Act.

Please click here to read a legislative brief detailing Virginia's efforts to begin compliance with the recently passed federal healthcare reform legislation.

With the recent passage of “The Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010,” the American Nurses Association (ANA) is providing helpful online resources for nurses designed to clearly explain what the legislation does and when.

We encourage you to visit http://www.nursingworld.org/healthcarereform to review these materials which include a breakdown of the nursing provisions included in the recently enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , a timeline of implementation for the various provisions, and a guide comparing PPACA to ANA’s Health System Reform Agenda.

ANA encourages its members to continue the work on the health care reform effort through ANA’s dedicated Web page, www.RNaction.org/healthcare.

For a brief overview of the PPACA provisions in relation to ANA’s broader health care reform agenda
please click here
For a "timeline" for when selected provisions are due to be implemented, please click here

ANA: Health System Reforms Principals VIDEO

ANA has long advocated for guaranteed, affordable, accessible and high-quality health care for all and emphasized that health care is a basic human right. In this critical time of the national health care reform debate, ANA is making its voice heard loudly on Capitol Hill.

ANA wants legislative efforts to focus on expanding coverage, improving access to care, and creating reliable, adequate funding for nursing education. ANA outlines its principles on health care reform in the video, “Health Care – A Basic Human Right.” Click on the link below to view the video.

Primer on Employee Free Choice Act (authored by VNA's government relations specialist Becky Bowers-Lanier)

CMS releases FY 2010 IPPS final rule

HCPRO Website, August 1, 2009

Though many hospitals had feared a 1.9% reduction in payment for 2010, they will actually see a 2.1% increase, according to the fiscal year (FY) 2010 IPPS final rule that CMS released July 31.

CMS had originally proposed a documentation and coding adjustment to account for the "effect of increases in aggregate payments due to changes in hospital coding practices that do not reflect increases in patient’s severity of illness," according to CMS.

However, CMS states it will continue to research the effects of the MS-DRG transition, including performing a complete analysis of FY 2008 and FY 2009 data. The agency may consider phasing in future adjustments over an extended period beginning in FY 2011, according to a CMS press release.

In addition, CMS expands the number of quality measures hospitals must report to be eligible for a full market basket update in FY 2011. New measures include Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) Infection 9 (Urinary Catheter Removed on Postoperative Day 1 or Postoperative Day 2) and SCIP INF 10 (Surgery Patients with Perioperative Temperature Management).

The agency will not make any changes to the list of hospital-acquired conditions. It will, however, evaluate the impact of the existing policy on hospital practices and care.

There’s a lot of talk right now about electronic health records, and how health care professionals and hospitals are going to pay for them.

So you probably have a lot of questions about them as well: Am I eligible to receive incentive payments under the Medicare & Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs? When does the programs begin? How much are the incentive payments? What do I need to participate?

It’s important that you have a reliable resource to turn to for accurate information. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is the federal agency establishing these incentive programs. The CMS website is the official federal source for facts about the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. The site contains up-to-date resources that will give you the insight you need to make educated decisions.

Avoid reading false or misleading information. Get the facts from the federal source – the CMS Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs website. Visit http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms today.