Iowa news
UnityPoint Clinic hopes to provide additional prenatal care through new midwife services
As part of the clinic’s goal to increase and expand prenatal services in Muscatine, UnityPoint Clinic OB/GYN – Mulberry has hired Melissa Irmen to provide midwife services. Irmen completed her undergraduate nursing education at St. Ambrose University. Following that, she received her graduate degree as a Certified Nurse Midwife from the University of Illinois at Chicago, later becoming a member of the American College of Nurse Midwives. Throughout her 12 years of health care experience, she has continued to offer service through being an advanced practice nurse besides being a midwife and having certifications in basic life support and neonatal resuscitation. Irmen won’t be limited to prenatal patients and will see anyone of child-bearing age and older as a patient to help local women with service beyond prenatal care, such as postpartum care, contraception, annual check-ups and sexually transmitted disease testing. (Muscatine Journal)
St. Anthony Foundation announces 2023 health care scholarship recipients
The St. Anthony Foundation has announced the recipients of $27,800 in health care-related scholarships to 35 students from the region. This year’s scholarships are investing in the future generation of health care professionals in a variety of areas including chemistry, exercise science, laboratory technology and radiography. Since the establishment of the St. Anthony Foundation’s scholarship program in 2003, $255,900 in awards has been granted, benefiting 338 students and enabling them to pursue their dreams of higher education in the health care sector. (KCIM)
U.S. Sen. Grassley leads the call for greater transparency in nursing home ownership
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and U.S. Reps. Lloyd Dogget (D-Texas) and Katie Porter (D-Calif.) are calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to strengthen and finalize CMS’ proposed rule to make nursing home ownership more transparent. For decades, Sen. Grassley has pushed for enhanced disclosure and accountability of private equity, real estate investment trust and related party ownership in nursing homes. His leadership resulted in a law requiring facilities to disclose all people and entities with control, offering administrative services or holding property leases. The law required CMS to finalize a rule within two years of passage. Although CMS published a proposed rule in 2011, it was never implemented. Earlier this year, Sen. Grassley sent a letter outlining this history and urging CMS to complete the rule. This week’s letter adds increased bipartisan pressure on CMS to finalize the rule. (Sierra Sun Times)
National news
Medicare site-neutral legislative proposals would jeopardize access to care
Congress is considering several bills that would impose additional site-neutral payment reductions to services provided in hospital outpatient departments. These legislative efforts would expand existing site-neutral payment cuts, which have already had a significantly negative impact on the financial sustainability of hospitals and health systems and have contributed to Medicare’s chronic failure to cover the cost of caring for its beneficiaries. A description of the legislative proposals, AHA’s take on the proposals and the potential impact these proposals would have on Medicare reimbursement to hospitals and health systems are shared in a recently released AHA fact sheet. (American Hospital Association)
Nearly one-third of inpatient and outpatient claims providers submitted to commercial payers were not paid for more than three months during the first quarter of 2023, according to a May report from public accounting, consulting and technology firm Crowe. Crowe’s revenue cycle analytics software monitors every patient financial transaction from more than 1,800 hospitals and 200,000 physicians nationwide. Crowe uses the data gathered from its clients to monitor payer behaviors in specific markets and nationwide. Thirty-one percent of inpatient claims and 32% of outpatient claims submitted to commercial payers were not paid for more than three months during the first quarter of 2023. That’s compared to 12% of inpatient claims and 11% of outpatient claims submitted to traditional Medicare that were not paid for more than three months in the first quarter of the year. (Becker’s Hospital CFO Report)
1 in 5 older adults skipped or delayed medicines last year because of cost
A growing number of older adults say they can’t afford their prescription medicines, a study published Thursday in JAMA Network Open found. About 1 in 5 adults ages 65 and up either skipped, delayed, took less medicine than was prescribed or took someone else’s medicine last year because of concerns about cost, according to the study. The increase was attributed to rising inflation and prescription drug costs, which are notoriously high in the United States compared to other countries of similar size and wealth. (NBC News)