national physician advisor conference · lesson #7, second example: what was it like in the 1960s...
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BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN CONFUSION AND CLARITY IN HEALTHCARE
National Physician Advisor ConferenceNPAC2019
From Clinical Practice to Legislative Action: Using Physician Experience, Data, and Research to Impact Health Policy
Ann M. Sheehy, MD, MSAssociate Professor and Division Head, Division of Hospital MedicineUniversity of Wisconsin Department of MedicineMadison, Wisconsin
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• Observation Hospital Care: Perspective from a Practicing Hospitalist
• Ten Lessons in Health Policy
• Questions
Outline
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• Most of my points refer to Original Medicare• Commercial insurance, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid is variable
• Medicare was created to at a time when half of Americans over age 65 did not have health insurance and seniors were the most likely demographic to be living in poverty• My comments are aimed to show how research can improve an
important program in our country
Perspective #1: Medicare
https://www.cms.gov: Medicare & Medicaid Milestones, 1937 to 2015.
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Observation Hospital Care: Perspective from a Practicing Hospitalist
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• Perspective is hospital observation care, less so observation units• We have a unit at University Hospital
• Perspective is as a practicing hospitalist, researcher, and administrator• I have an MD and a Masters Degree in Clinical Research
• My administrative role has me looking at systems issues
• I am not a physician advisor!
• I greatly respect the work done to keep us compliant with regulations
Perspective #2: My Background and Influences
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• New diagnosis of cancer
• Didn’t meet inpatient criteria, hospitalized as observation
• What does this mean?
Sometime Back in 2010…
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• Patients may be hospitalized as inpatients or outpatients (observation)
• Medicare patients hospitalized as inpatients are covered by Medicare Part A hospital insurance and Medicare pays for post-discharge skilled nursing care• Deductible for 2019: $1364 per benefit period
• Medicare patients hospitalized under observation are covered by Part B, no skilled nursing benefit, no self-admin drug coverage• Limit of $1364 per service, no cumulative limit
• C-APC 8011…
Outpatient (Observation) vs Inpatient Hospital Care
This is an oversimplification…
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Reviewed the literature and found a lack of information on observation
• Single institution data for 18 months
• Descriptive study with descriptive statistics only (number/%)
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University of Wisconsin Hospital
July 2010-December 2011
Total 4,578 (10.4%) Observation Stays
Observation encounters by service and provider type: Why does a hospitalist care?
Medicine, 53%
SS Nonsurgical,
16%
Surgical, 17%
Pediatrics, 14%
Hospitalists, 59%
Traditional In/Outpatient,
21%
Cardiology, 10%
Emergency Medicine,
5%
Other, 5%
2012 Medicare Claims by Provider Type
Sheehy et al, JAMA Intern Med 2013. Observation white paper, http://www.hospitalmedicine.org/
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Wouldn’t observation units solve the problems of observation?
Baugh et al. Health Affairs, 2012.
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• Observation units should be used for select, low acuity patients without significant barriers to discharge
• If we could get back to Medicare’s definition of < 24 hours, rarely longer than 48 hours, observation units could be a bigger part of the solution
However…
• There may be diminishing returns on geographic co-location and resource prioritization for more complex observation patients with other discharge barriers
• Research studies and/or observation units may appropriately select for patients, but the hospital bottom line includes all patients, including those outside of the unit
Observation Units
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• 4,064 spontaneous list service job postings from the American Case Management Association Learning Link 2011-2012
• Two most common job postings:• Observation and the accurate “leveling” of patients (935, 23%)
• CMS compliance (719 posts, 18%)
Reynolds J. Professional Case Management 2013;18(5) 246-254.
“The data suggest that hospital case managers’ time is inordinately leveraged by issues related to observation status/leveling of patients and the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services compliance. The data also suggest that hospital case management has taken a conceptual trajectory that has deviated significantly
from what was initially conceived (quality, advocacy, and care coordination).”
What about our teams?
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What is “Observation”?
• Observation is a billing distinction
• Not directly related to clinical diagnosis• Some diagnoses more common than others
• Not related to physical location in the hospital
• Does not define efficiency• Regardless of status, we try to care for patients in the most efficient
way possible
• Observation is an oxymoron• Oxymoron (n.): A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory
terms appear in conjunction (Google dictionary)
• Example: “Outpatient hospitalization” (Ann Sheehy)
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Many things don’t make sense in healthcare…
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Observation can be frustrating, but hospitalists need to own It
• Outpatient (observation) status is a billing distinction not necessarily linked to clinical care• ICU stays, time of day of admission
• When “outpatient” means “hospitalization”…
• It impacts our practice, writing orders to now specify why our patient needs to stay 2 midnights• Spending time on documentation that has little to do with patient care
• Zero sum game: the more time case managers spend on status and CMS compliance, the less they can spend in quality efforts, discharge planning
• It is hard to explain to patients how they can stay overnight and not be admitted
• It may impact our patients financially, especially with SNF benefit
• The majority of observation patients are cared for by hospitalists
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Ten Lessons in Health Policy
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Lesson #1: If you are seeing something over and over, chances
are others are, too. If it bothers you so much you lose sleep over
it, do something about it.
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Lesson #2: Advocate through your national organization
www.acpadvisors.org
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ACPA is well positioned to advocate for change
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Appointed to the Society of Hospital Medicine Public Policy Committee in 2013
• Two white papers
• Multiple congressional office visits
• Visits with CMS
• Observation coalition
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May 20, 2014:House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Hearing
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Lesson #3: Seek unique collaborators and opportunities, and be lucky enough to have your
favorite attending from residency, Dr. Charles Locke, happen to be at the hearing you are
testifying at.
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• At the hearing, data about RAC success rates did not ring true to our experience
• Connected with Dr. Locke who introduced me to Dr. Jeannine Engel
• Each obtained institutional permission in different ways to share our audits and appeals data (legal, compliance, authority board)
• Connected the individuals at our respective institutions who tracked this data, and they made an incredible effort to merge our data
• IRB approval/exemptions at all three institutions
• Multiple conference calls and email exchanges
Collaborating with Johns Hopkins and University of Utah
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Lesson #4: Institutional Review Board (IRB) research approval and organizational
approval are equally important
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• All Complex Part A RA audits and appeals at three academic medical centers
• Dates of audits 2010-2013• Data abstracted June 30, 2014
Audit and Appeals 1 Study
Sheehy et al. J Hosp Med 2015
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• Of 101,862 inpatient Medicare encounters
• RACs audited 8.0% and alleged overpayment in 31.3%• Hospitals disputed 91.0%
• The majority of claims were settled in discussion (33.3%)
• Time for cases still in appeals 555 days
• Hospitals lost 0.9% of decided cases by missing a filing deadline• No reciprocal case concession in the appeals process
• No overpayment determinations contested need for care delivered, rather that care should have been outpatient rather than inpatient
• 5.1 FTE at each hospital just to manage this process
Audit and Appeals 1 Study
Sheehy et al. J Hosp Med 2015
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• 219 appeals reached Level 3 of the 5 Level appeals process• 71% of decided appeals at Level 3 were favorable to the hospitals
• Mean time since date of service: 1663 days
• Government contractors and ALJs (Level 3) met legislative deadlines less than half (47.7%) of the time
Audit and Appeals 2 Study
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Lesson #5: Data is Important!
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RA audited 8.0% Complex Part A RA audit 0.3% total
The majority of decided claims were settled in discussionDiscussion not part of formal appeals process so not counted in RA
accuracy
Hospitals defaulted by missing a filing deadline, but appeals met legislative deadlines less than half of the time
RA report does not include missed filing deadlines or time in appeals
Hospitals consider an overturn a winRA report includes every level in the denominator, such that a hospital
win at Level 3 counts as a 33% overturn, inflating RA accuracy
Why was our data different than what was presented at the hearing and Included in the RAC Data Warehouse?
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Were the Recovery Auditors lying at the hearing or in the report? NO.
But how do you present the weather in Madison on this day in January? As
a sunny day? Or as a day that is -23 with a wind chill of -47?
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Lesson #6: Policy makers use government reports and policy
journals to make decisions. Understand what is in them, and develop research questions and
where there are gaps.
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Senate Finance Committee AFIRM bill
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Senate Finance Committee AFIRM bill
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• Ben Cardin (D-MD) on Senate Finance
• Orrin Hatch (R-UT) chaired Senate Finance
• Dr. Locke and I met with Senator Cardin’s staff in Washington
• Senator Hatch was informed of the audit and appeals impact at University of Utah
AFIRM Bill Behind the Scenes
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Lesson #7: Know and love your government relations team (aka
lobbyists)
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Lesson #7, Second Example: What was it like in the 1960s when the Medicare program began?
Sheehy and Courtney, J Hosp Med, 2017; Lowenstein, Early effects of Medicare on the Health Care of the Aged, 1971
For those 65 and older:1965: Average inpatient LOS 14.2 days2012: Average inpatient LOS 5.2 days
Observation did not exist
3 consecutive inpatient midnights means something entirely different now compared to when the Medicare program began
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Lesson #7: Continued…
Sheehy A, Courtney J. J Hosp Med 2017.
• Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2017
• Would guarantee SNF benefit to any Medicare beneficiary staying 3 or more midnights in the hospital, regardless if those nights are inpatient or observation
• Last Congress, had bipartisan support in both the Senate (18D, 4R, 1I) and House (82 D, 11R)
• Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2019 companion bills due to be released today, March 12, 2019
• House Sponsors: Representatives Joe Courtney (D-CT); Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA)
• Senate Sponsors: Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH); Susan Collins (R-ME); Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI); Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
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Lesson #7: Continued…
Observation white paper, http://www.hospitalmedicine.org/
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Lesson #7: Continued…
• In FY2014, 633,148 stays lasted 3 or more midnights but did not include 3 inpatientmidnights a 6% increase from FY2013• For 432,740 (68.3%): beneficiary spent nights as
outpatient and then switched to inpatient
• For 200,408 (31.7%): exclusively OP
• In a prior OIG report of FY 2012 data, 25,245 (4%) of 617,702 of patients with a non-qualifying 3 midnight stay discharged to SNF• Goldstein and colleagues:
• Single center study
• Only 20% of those observation patients recommended for SNF actually went
OIG, OEI-02-15-00020, 2016OIG, OEI-02-12-00040, 2013Goldstein et al, J Hosp Med, 2017
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Lesson #8: Start small and grow
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• Type of data:• Started with single-center data
• Moved to a 3 hospital partnership
• Now working with claims data linked to census track data
• Type of publication:• Non-peer reviewed, like blogs and white papers: can get information out
quickly, can highlight opinions and/or promote a peer reviewed publication
• Peer reviewed journal publications: the gold standard in data integrity and research
• What topics to study:• Observation services C-APC?
• Medicare Advantage?
• Physician Advisor survey: State of PA/UR?
• Case management data?
Lesson #8: Start small and grow
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• 2014 20% Sample Medicare Part A and B Claims
• Realized there was no standard observation case finding definition
• Literature search revealed 20 sources• 5 contained no information on
observation case finding• 1 obtained information via personal
communication
• 15 identified ORC, but not enough details to know how they dealt with status changes, ORC in the inpatient revenue center, or duplicate codes
Original Medicare FFS Claims Data
Sheehy A, Shi F, Kind A. J Hosp Med 2018.
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• 125,920 observation revenue center codes found within 30 days of an inpatient stay• 75,502 ORC in the outpatient revenue center
• 47.3% (59,529) had some relationship with an inpatient stay, indicating a high level of status change
• Internal validity (MedPAC 2015 report):• 2012 Medicare claims: 30% of observation stays switched to inpatient
2014 Medicare Claims
Sheehy, Shi, Kind. J Hosp Med. 2018; MedPAC Report to Congress. Chapter 7: Hospital Short-Stay Policy Issues. June 2015.
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• We established a new definition, “The University of Wisconsin Method” for observation case finding
• Proposes a way to research status changes
• Importantly, found that almost half of observation stays have some relation to an inpatient stay
• And, gained some insight into the C-APC…
2014 Medicare Claims
Sheehy, Shi, Kind. J Hosp Med. 2018; MedPAC Report to Congress. Chapter 7: Hospital Short-Stay Policy Issues. June 2015.
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• Comprehensive Ambulatory Payment Classification for observation services• C-APC is to outpatient as DRG is to inpatient
• Bundles observation payment when certain conditions are met, and caps patient out of pocket liability• 2014 Medicare Claims: HCPCS G0378 found on 52% of claims
• Uncertain impact on entire observation picture
C-APC 8011
http://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-source/reports/mar18_medpac_entirereport_sec.pdf?sfvrsn=0Sheehy, Shi, Kind. J Hosp Med. 2018.
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Lesson #9: Don’t Forget the Regulatory Side!
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Lesson #9: Don’t Forget the Regulatory Side!
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Lesson #10: Be Persistent!
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Lesson #10: Be Persistent!
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• If you are seeing something over and over, chances are others are, too. If it bothers you so much you lose sleep over it, do something about it• From a hospitalist perspective, observation is challenging for many reasons and merits reform
• Advocate through your national organization: ACPA has expertise that no other group has
• Seek unique collaborators and opportunities, and be lucky enough to have your favorite attending from residency, Dr. Charles Locke, happen to be at the hearing you are speaking at
• IRB and organizational approval are equally important
• Data is important!
• Policy makers use government reports and policy journals to make decisions, so understand what is in them, and develop research questions where there are gaps
• Know and love your Government Relations team (lobbyists)
• Start small and grow
• Don’t forget the regulatory side
• Be persistent!
Summary: Ten Lessons in Using Physician Experience, Data and Research to Impact Health Policy
www.acpadvisors.org
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Charles Locke, MD
Jeannine Engel, MD
Amy Kind, MD, PhD
Andrew LaRocque
Bart Caponi, MD
Acknowledgements