Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its final rule with payment updates and changes to the physician fee schedule beginning January 1. Without a change in law, Medicare payments to physician providers will decline by an estimated 27.4 percent beginning January 1, 2012. While this is slightly lower than the 29.5 percent reduction estimated earlier this year cuts of this magnitude are unsustainable.

 

To read the CMS news release, click here.

 

To read AHA’s Special Bulletin (members only), click here.

Register now for the PLF’s next webinar, "Physician Quality Reporting: Getting Started and Driving Improvement," taking place Monday, November 14 at 2 p.m. ET. Join us for this free, 60-minute webinar to learn how two organizations – one an academic medical center and the other a system of rural hospitals – started physician quality measurement in their hospitals and clinics, and how they are using data to drive performance improvement. The session will feature Dr. William Fulkerson, a pulmonologist/intensivist and executive vice president of Duke University Health System, and Dr. Lanny Copeland, a family physician and chief medical officer of LifePoint Hospitals. Hear about their experiences, successes and challenges, and have an opportunity to ask them your questions.

 

To register, click here.

The Physician Leadership Forum strives to deliver content that is both informative and relevant to our subscribers. In an effort to better serve you, we would like to collect your feedback in regard to our biweekly electronic newsletter.

 

We ask that you please take a few minutes out of your busy schedule to complete the survey. This survey should take no more than 5 minutes to complete. If you have not already done so, please complete this survey no later than Friday, November 11. Thanks for your participation.

 

To begin the survey, please click here.

The Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) has been awarded a $3.4 million, three-year contract by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to support the promotion of AHRQ’s TeamSTEPPS program. TeamSTEPPS, which stands for Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety, is a set of evidence-based, practical tools that helps hospitals and other health care providers strengthen teamwork among caregivers with the goal of improving patient safety.

 

To read the HRET news release, click here.

A new study by the Leapfrog Group for Patient Safety found that intensive care units (ICUs) staffed with intensivists can reduce mortality by 40 percent.

 

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New research from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) shows that if proposed 2012 cuts to Medicare occur, most physicians will not be able to maintain current levels of access for new Medicare patients.

 

To read the MGMA news release, click here.

Physician leaders are playing a crucial role in challenging their patients to become more involved in their own health care outcomes.

 

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The 2011 Physician Executive Compensation Survey, published by Cejka Executive Search, reports on how physician executives are being paid across the country.

 

The American Hospital Association (AHA) is seeking applicants for the second class of the AHA Health Care System Transformation Fellowship. This six-month, highly interactive program is focused on providing senior executives with a road map of how to design and plan for new care delivery and payment models, such as medical homes, bundled payments and clinical integration programs. Fellows learn key foundational competencies for implementing these models including effective ways to manage enterprise risk, how to demonstrate value to various stakeholders, and leveraging physician relationships to coordinate care across the continuum. The AHA Health Care System Transformation Fellowship program will accept applications through December 31, 2011.

 

For more information or to download an application, click here.

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