Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1094308
61 HEALTHCARE NEWS Amazon now sells hospital rooms: 5 note By Julie Spitzer Hospitals, health systems and businesses can now purchase a hospital room on Amazon, CNBC reports. Five things to know: 1. Amazon already offers a slew of medical supplies, from syringes to bed pans. The e-commerce giant also sells a line of 60 over-the-counter health- care products. 2. Businesses can now purchase a "smart" hospital room on Amazon from the vendor EIR Healthcare, through a service dubbed MedModular. 3. MedModular is customizable, but all the rooms are equipped with a bathroom and a bed. 4. The rooms cost about $285,000 — or $814 per square foot — and are tar- geted toward hospitals and other business buyers. EIR Healthcare claims the units are more affordable that traditional construction, CNBCreports. 5. EIR Healthcare CEO Grant Geiger told CNBC that hospital customers have expressed interest in using the units as simulation labs or urgent care facilities. n Ascension restructures leadership as 3 execs depart By Alyssa Rege S t. Louis-based Ascension revealed changes to its opera- tional structure and leadership amid the departure of three long- time executives in a Jan. 22 an- nouncement. The changes include the dissolution of Ascension's solutions and health- care divisions. The solutions and healthcare divisions were created in 2012 to improve focus and growth for the system's subsidiaries. Officials said the decision to elimi- nate the divisions stems from the health system's goal to become a unified organization, One Ascension. In addition to the organizational changes, Ascension President and CEO Anthony Tersigni announced the departure of three longtime executives, and the creation of a new position. Patricia A. Maryland, DrPH, will leave the organization after a 15-year tenure. She will continue in her role as CEO of Ascension Healthcare through June 30. After her depar- ture, the position will be eliminated. Executives John Doyle and David Pryor, MD, will retire at the end of the health system's fiscal year, June 30. To support Ascension's integrated health ministry, Joseph R. Impicciche will assume the newly created role of Ascension president and COO. He will oversee Ascension's healthcare operations and services and report to Mr. Tersigni. Mr. Impicciche has served as ex- ecutive vice president and general counsel since 2004. n 38 hospitals sue HHS over site- neutral payment policy By Ayla Ellison T hirty-eight hospitals filed a lawsuit against HHS Jan. 18, alleging HHS Secretary Alex Azar overstepped his authority when he finalized a policy that will cut Medicare payments for hospital outpatient visits. Four things to know: 1. Under the 2019 Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System final rule, CMS made payments for clinic visits site-neutral by reducing the payment rate for evaluation and management services provided at off-campus provider-based departments by 60 percent. Based on a two-year phase-in of this policy, half of the total reduction will apply this year. 2. In their lawsuit, the hospitals argue Mr. Azar acted beyond his statutory au- thority in finalizing the OPPS rule. They claim the site-neutral payment policy violates the Medicare statute's mandate of budget neutrality and Congress's direc- tive that excepted provider-based depart- ments be reimbursed at OPPS rates and not at lower payment rates HHS applies. 3. "e Secretary's unlawful rate cut directly contravenes clear congressional directives and will impose significant harm on affected off-campus hospital outpatient departments and patients they serve," the complaint states. 4. In December, the American Hospital Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges and three hospitals filed a similar lawsuit against HHS over the site- neutral payment policy. n