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5500 Preparer's Manual for 2012 Plan Years
The premier resource in the field of Form 5500 preparation, 5500 Preparer's Manual will help you handle the required annual Form 5500 filings for both pension benefits and welfare benefit plans.
from Spencer’s Benefits Reports: On April 12, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, joined by leaders of major hospitals, employers, health plans, physicians, nurses, and patient advocates, on April 12 announced the launch of the new national Partnership for Patients. The project will help save 60,000 lives by stopping millions of preventable injuries and complications in patient care over the next three years.
Approximately 98,000 people die every day as a result of medical errors, and a study released earlier this month found that one-in-three hospital admissions result in adverse effects, said Ms. Sebelius. One in seven Medicare beneficiaries are harmed in the course of medical care, and one-half of these adverse incidents are preventable, added Donald Berwick, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator.
The Partnership for Patients also has the potential to save up to $35 billion in health care costs, including up to $10 billion for Medicare. Over the next ten years, the Partnership for Patients could reduce costs to Medicare by about $50 billion and result in billions more in Medicaid savings, HHS said. Already, more than 500 hospitals, along with physicians and nurses groups, consumer groups, and employers, have pledged their commitment to the new initiative.
“Americans go the hospital to get well, but millions of patients are injured because of preventable complications and accidents,” said Ms. Sebelius. “Working closely with hospitals, doctors, nurses, patients, families and employers, we will support efforts to help keep patients safe, improve care, and reduce costs. Working together, we can help eliminate preventable harm to patients...With this intiative, we are sending a clear message that we will no longer accept that only some patients will get the best care.”
To launch the initiative, HHS will invest up to $1 billion in federal funding, made available under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). On April 12, $500 million of that funding was made available through the Community-Based Care Transitions Program. Up to $500 million more will be dedicated from the CMS Innovation Center to support new demonstrations related to reducing hospital-acquired conditions.
The funding will be invested in reforms that by the end of 2013 are expected to achieve the following two shared goals:
Reaching these targets will return up to $10 per $1 invested in the project, Ms. Sebelius said. But achieving those goals will require the will, awareness and incentives to change; learning together from each other, copying successful models of change; and execution, Mr. Berwick added.
“Quality improves outcomes and reduces costs,” said David Cody, CEO of Honeywell, in endorsing the Partnership. Good “quality costs less, not more.” The effort will require process analysis tools, metrics. “We at Honeywell would like to be able to differentiate our payments to medical providers based on quality assessments,” Mr. Cody said.
Although the Partnership will target all forms of harm to patients, it will start by asking hospitals to focus on nine types of medical errors and complications where the potential for dramatic reductions in harm rates has been demonstrated by pioneering hospitals and systems across the country. Examples include preventing adverse drug reactions, pressure ulcers, childbirth complications and surgical site infections. The CMS Innovation Center will help hospitals adapt effective, evidence-based care improvements to target preventable patient injuries on a local level, developing innovative approaches to spreading and sharing strategies among public and private partners in all states. Members of the partnership will identify specific steps they will take to reduce preventable injuries and complications in patient care.
“With new tools provided by the ACA, we can aggressively implement programs that will help hospitals reduce preventable errors,” said Mr. Berwick. “We will provide hospitals with incentives to improve the quality of health care, and provide real assistance to medical professionals and hospitals to support their efforts to reduce harm.”
As of April 12, community-based organizations and partner eligible acute care hospitals can begin submitting applications for the $500 million funding HHS allocated to help them safely transition patients between care settings. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis and awards made on an ongoing basis as available funds allow.
In coordination with stakeholders from across the health care system, the CMS Innovation Center plans to use up to $500 million in additional funds to test different models to improve patient care, engagement, and collaboration in order to reduce hospital-acquired conditions and improve care transitions nationwide. These collaborative models will help hospitals adopt effective interventions for improving patient safety in their facilities, the HHS said.
These two programs are in addition to the National Quality Strategy and the Accountable Care Organizations initiative for Medicare patients announced last month to serve as a tool to help coordinate quality initiatives between public and private partners and to coordinate existing efforts by federal agencies and departments to improve patient care. All these initiatives are provided for in the ACA to improve the health care system and reduce waste. By 2015, a portion of Medicare payments to the majority of hospitals will be linked to whether hospitals are delivering safer care, using information technology effectively, and meeting patient needs.
“No single entity can improve care for millions of hospital patients alone,” said Mr. Berwick. “Through strong partnerships at national, regional, state and local levels–including the public sector and some of the nation’s largest companies–we are supporting the hospital community to significantly reduce harm to patients.”
For more information about the Partnership for Patients, visit http://www.HealthCare.gov/center/programs/partnership. For more information about the Community-based Care Transitions Program funding opportunity, visit http://www.cms.gov/DemoProjectsEvalRpts/MD/itemdetail.asp?itemID=CMS1239313.
For more information on this and related topics, consult the CCH Pension Plan Guide, CCH Employee Benefits Management, and Spencer's Benefits Reports.
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