Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1233009
45 HEALTHCARE NEWS CMS cuts payments to 786 hospitals over high rates of infection, injury By Ayla Ellison C MS is trimming 786 hospitals' Medicare pay- ments in fiscal year 2020 for having the high- est rates of patient injuries and infections. Five things to know: 1. Created under the ACA, the Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program aims to prevent harm to patients by providing a financial incentive for hospitals to prevent hospital-acquired conditions. Under the program, a hospital's total score is based on performance on six quality measures. Each year, Medicare cuts payments by 1 percent for hospitals that fall in the worst-performing quartile. 2. On Jan. 29, CMS identified the 786 hospitals that will have their Medicare payments reduced for pa- tients discharged between last October and this Sep- tember, according to Kaiser Health News. e pen- alties will be applied as hospitals submit claims to Medicare for reimbursement. 3. According to KHN, Medicare is penalizing the following seven hospitals named to U.S. News' Best Hospitals Honor Roll: • UPMC Shadyside (Pittsburgh) • Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles) • Keck Hospital of USC (Los Angeles) • Stanford (Calif.) Hospital • UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco) • NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York City) • Mayo Clinic (Phoenix) 4. e Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Pro- gram is in its sixth year. Sixteen hospitals across the U.S. have been penalized all six years, according to KHN. 5. e hospital industry has argued the program's de- sign causes hospitals that do the best job of testing for infections to appear among the worst based on sta- tistics, while those with less thorough testing might appear better than they should. n 14 highest-paying healthcare jobs in 2020 By Mackenzie Bean F ourteen of the 25 highest-paying jobs in 2020 are in healthcare, according to U.S. News & World Report's Best Job rankings released Jan. 7. U.S. News identified jobs with the largest projected number of open- ings from 2018-28 using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Researchers then assessed each job's salary figures to compile a list of the highest-paying jobs this year. The 14 healthcare jobs that made the list, ranked by average salary: • Anesthesiologist — $267,020 • Surgeon — $255,110 • Oral and maxillofacial surgeon — $242,370 • OB/GYN — $238,320 • Orthodontist — $225,760 • Psychiatrist — $220,380 • Physician — $196,490 • Prosthodontist — $191,400 • Pediatrician — $183,240 • Dentist — $175,840 • Nurse anesthetist — $174,790 • Podiatrist — $148,220 • Pharmacist — $123,670 • Optometrist — $119,980 n New York health system closes campus By Ayla Ellison Brooks-TLC Hospital System has closed its hospital in Irving, N.Y., ac- cording to TV station WIVB. The health system shut down Lakeshore Hospital about two months after announcing plans to close the facility. Brooks-TLC said the hos- pital faced financial challenges and ended 2019 with a $7.1 million deficit. The hospital shut down Feb. 2 because there's not enough staff to run the facility, a Brooks-TLC spokesperson told WIVB. The closure affects about 200 employees. n