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Thursday, Apr 24, 2014
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  • We are located in the BioTech One building of the VA Bio•Technology Research Park.

    Address:
    SMA Informatics
    800 E. Leigh Street
    Suite 206-14 Building One
    Richmond, VA 23219

    Phone: (804) 344-8111
    FAX: (804) 344-8113

    Contact Form: Web Contact Form
    Web: www.smainformatics.com
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Last Modified: March 25, 2014
News Item - 04/18/2014
How Americans Die
by Matthew C. Klein
The mortality rate fell by about 17 percent from 1968 through 2010, years for which we have detailed data.

Almost all of this improvement can be attributed to improved survival prospects for men.

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News Item - 04/18/2014
Data from Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Increase Transparency for Consumers Evaluating Facilities
On April 17, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced for the first time that quality measures from inpatient psychiatric facilities will be publicly reported on Hospital Compare, a consumer-oriented website that provides information on the quality of care hospitals are providing to their patients.

“Patients and their families need facts to help them in making informed decisions about healthcare, and choosing the right facility for inpatient psychiatric care is an important decision to make,” said CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.

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News Item - 04/17/2014
Diagnostic Errors Study Findings
Outpatient Diagnostic Errors Affect 1 in 20 U.S. Adults, AHRQ Study Finds

Diagnostic errors—missed opportunities to make a timely or correct diagnosis based on available evidence—occur in about 5 percent of adults in the United States, according to a new study published in the April 21 issue of BMJ Quality & Safety. The study, partially funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), estimates that approximately 12 million adults in the United States could experience an outpatient diagnostic error each year.

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News Item - 04/17/2014
Hospital Visits Fell When Seniors Got Drug Coverage
by Jay Hancock
Eleven years ago Bob Bennett, then a Republican senator from Utah, made a fiscal sales pitch for including prescription drugs in Medicare coverage for seniors.

“Medicare says if you go to the hospital and run up a bill of however many tens of thousands of dollars to stay that many days, we will pay for it,” he said in June 2003. “But if you take the pill that makes the hospital visit unnecessary, we will not. That clearly doesn’t make sense.”

Researchers at the University of Illinois and the Johns Hopkins University have made the broadest test yet of Medicare Part D prescription drug program’s promise — that covering drugs would keep seniors out of the hospital.

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News Item - 04/17/2014
Cut prices for low-risk hospital outpatient surgeries: HHS report
by Joe Carlson
Medicare should pay hospitals less for low-risk outpatient surgeries, the program's fiscal watchdog suggests in a report published on April 17. Bringing prices in line with those charged at cheaper ambulatory surgical centers could save the government as much as $15 billion over six years and save Medicare patients $4 billion in copayments, the report projects.

Read the report.
Source
News Item - 04/04/2014
CMS releases PQRS, eRx progress report
by Marla Durben Hirsch
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a new report on two of its pay-for-reporting incentive programs for eligible professionals (EPs): the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and electronic prescribing (eRx).

The 90 page report on 2012 participation results and trends in the programs demonstrates "exciting progress," according to CMS officials.

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News Item - 01/21/2014
MedPAC Recommends No ASC Pay Increase for 2015; 3.25-5.25% Increase for HOPDs
by Laura Miller
On Friday, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission approved a final recommendation for Medicare pay rates in 2015, recommending that ambulatory surgery centers get 0 percent pay raise, according to an AHA News report.

At the same time, MedPAC recommended increasing hospital inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems by 3.25 percent in the absence of sequestration cuts and 5.25 percent if spending cuts continue. The sequestration that begun last April enacted automatic 2 percent Medicare payment cuts for the next 10 years.

However, MedPAC did suggest reducing or eliminating pay differences between hospital outpatient departments and physician offices for some procedures, as currently hospital outpatient departments are paid significantly more.

Source
News Item - 11/08/2013
NHA is one of the 20 Most Promising Data Analytics Companies
Companies today recognize that they have opportunities to use data and analytics to raise productivity, improve decision-making, and gain competitive advantage. CIOs understand that analytics will define the difference between the losers and winners going forward. As the market evolves a vast array of data analytics technology and solution vendors are positioning themselves for leadership. A large number of venture-backed startups are battling against established BI and enterprise software providers.

While there are plenty to choose from, organizations that succeed with Big Data analytics will be those that understand the possibilities, see through the vendor hype and choose the right deployment model. In the last few months, we have looked at hundreds of data analytics companies and shortlisted the ones that are at the forefront of tackling the real analytics challenges. We present to you CIOReview's 20 Most Promising Data Analytics Companies. A distinguished panel comprising of CEOs, CIOs, VCs, industry analysts and the editorial board of CIOReview selected the Final 20.

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