Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Review Of Joint Commission's Standards Planned
The Joint Commission plans to review all of its accreditation requirements that go "above-and-beyond" CMS requirements. In a Sept. 13 statement, the organization said it will "address the necessity" of its requirements, similar to how CMS has been reviewing requirements that were waived during the nation's COVID-19 public health emergency. (Carbajal, 9/15)
The Joint Commission plans to name the first major set of standards to be retired in January, President and CEO Dr. Jonathan Perlin said. (Devereaux, 9/14)
In hospital news —
St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, which has been caring for Cleveland’s sick since the Civil War era, announced Wednesday that in mid-November it will stop offering inpatient, surgical and emergency room care. (Washington, 9/14)
Parts of Ben Taub Hospital have been closed after tests revealed heightened levels of Legionella bacteria in water samples, Harris Health System confirmed on Wednesday night. (Wayne Ferguson, 9/14)
KHN: Impending Hospital Closure Rattles Atlanta Health Care Landscape And Political Races
Like many neighborhoods in cities across the country, Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward is changing. Condo buildings and modern minimalist homes punctuate city blocks of low-income housing. Many longtime residents of the historic neighborhood where Martin Luther King Jr. was born have been priced out and pushed to other parts of town. Atlanta Medical Center, a 460-bed Level 1 trauma center, will be the next fixture to change. (Whitehead and Miller, 9/14)
On the high cost of medical care —
Sexual assault and rape victims seeking care in US emergency rooms face costly medical bills, in spite of a federal law meant to defray these types of expenses. (Taylor, 9/14)
Average annual spending on mental health services by individuals enrolled in employer-sponsored health plans covered reached $2,380 per enrollee in 2020, up 20% since 2013, according to a report from the Employer Benefit Research Institute. (Reed, 9/14)
The government wants feedback on how to regulate the advanced explanation of benefits and cost estimate provisions of the surprise billing ban, several departments announced in a request for information issued Wednesday. (Goldman, 9/14)
KHN: Court Ruling May Spur Competitive Health Plans To Bring Back Copays For Preventive ServicesÂ
Tom and Mary Jo York are a health-conscious couple, going in for annual physicals and periodic colorectal cancer screening tests. Mary Jo, whose mother and aunts had breast cancer, also gets regular mammography tests. The Yorks, who live in New Berlin, Wisconsin, are enrolled in Chorus Community Health Plans, which, like most of the nation’s health plans, is required by the Affordable Care Act to pay for those preventive services, and more than 100 others, without charging deductibles or copays. (Meyer, 9/15)
