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2026 IPF PPS Final Rule

CMS recently published the FY 2026 Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Prospective Payment System (IPF PPS) Final Rule which finalized changes to the Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting (IPFQR) program. All IPFs, which include psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric units of an acute care hospital or critical access hospital, paid under the IPF PPS must meet IPFQR reporting requirements. For the full text of the final rule, see the Federal Register.

Featured

2026 IPPS Final Rule

CCMS recently published the FY 2026 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Final Rule which finalized several changes to the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program and Medicare Promoting Interoperability (PI) Program for eligible hospitals (EHs) and critical access hospitals (CAHs). For the full text of the rule, see the Federal Register.

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2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule

CMS recently published the CY 2026 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Proposed Rule which included proposals for the Quality Payment Program (QPP). CMS proposed updates to MIPS Value Pathways (MVPs) and Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). For the full text of the rule, see the Federal Register.

2026 OPPS Proposed Rule

CMS recently released the CY 2026 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Proposed Rule, which included proposals for the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program (OQR) Program. For the full text of the rule, see the Federal Register.

2026 IPF PPS Proposed Rule

CMS recently published the FY 2026 Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Prospective Payment System (IPF PPS) Proposed Rule which proposed changes to the Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting (IPFQR) program. All IPFs, which include psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric units of an acute care hospital or critical access hospital, paid under the IPF PPS must meet IPFQR reporting requirements. For the full text of the proposed rule, see the Federal Register.

2026 IPPS Proposed Rule

CMS recently published the FY 2026 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Proposed Rule which includes several proposed changes to the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program and Medicare Promoting Interoperability (PI) Program for eligible hospitals (EHs) and critical access hospitals (CAHs). For the full text of the rule, see the Federal Register.

Understanding the MIPS Complex Patient Bonus

CMS’ Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is a pay-for-performance program where a higher score leads to higher reimbursement. Further, MIPS is a budget neutral program where those receiving a negative payment adjustment fund those receiving a positive payment adjustment. The Complex Patient Bonus can help you achieve a higher score. 

Optimize your MIPS Cost Category Score

CMS’ Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is a pay-for-performance program where a higher score leads to higher reimbursement.  In MIPS, there are four performance categories: Quality, Cost, Promoting Interoperability, and Improvement Activities.  This blog will explore the Cost Category for 2024.

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The Importance of Data Governance

Is your Healthcare Data Being Governed?

In today's rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, effective data management is crucial for delivering high-quality patient care, ensuring regulatory compliance, and improving operational efficiency. While working with Meditech hospitals, we recognize that robust healthcare data governance and a well-defined reporting structure are essential components that must work together.

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MUSE Views Podcast

Enjoy this edition of MUSE Views, the podcast for the MUSE community, as we talk with key Commercial members to focus on timely products and services to enhance your IT environments, productivity, workflows, and more. In this show from March 2024, Joel Benware discusses the transition from a community hospital CIO to President of a vendor company, and what makes Acmeware special. 

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EHR Downtime Insights

In the world of healthcare, Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have become indispensable tools, revolutionizing the way patient information is documented, managed, and shared.  MEDITECH, one of the leading providers of EHR systems, has played a significant role in this transformation.  However, despite their reliability, EHR systems are not immune to downtime, which can occur due to various reasons such as technical glitches, ransomware attacks, maintenance activities or even natural disasters. 

Power BI blog

Why Power BI is the best reporting platform for DR

In part one of this blog I wrote about why I think Microsoft Power BI is a superior data analysis and reporting platform for MEDITECH Data Repository compared to SQL Server Reporting Services. In this second part of a a two-part analysis, I continue the discussion by reviewing the user presentation and interactivity experience.