CMS issues management advisory report? In its latest advisory, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has told hospitals, in so many words, that customer relationship management (CRM) is the wave of the future.(EYE ON WASHINGTON)

Publication: Healthcare Financial Management

Publication Date: 01-MAY-08

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What? Has CMS entered the consulting world? CMS's advisory sure has the look and feel of a consultant's report. And it clearly spells out some ways CRM can deliver benefits to the Medicare program. Where can you get this advisory? It's nestled in the 1,200 pages of the FY09 Medicare proposed hospital inpatient payment rule (IPPS) on the CMS web site. (Go to www.cms.gov, search on CMS-1390-P, and click on "Acute Inpatient PPS.")

OK, CMS hasn't actually assumed a consulting role. The agency's objective is simply to save Medicare money. But if we stay with the CBM tack, the positives are definitely there--for everyone.

It Starts with Readmission Rates

From the Medicare savings perspective, the evidence has been in for some time. Readmissions are a problem. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), the nonpartisan (honest!) agency that advises Congress on Medicare policy, estimates that 17.6 percent of all Medicare patients were readmitted within 30 days of their discharge in...

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