3 Major Changes When Reporting Wuhan Virus Illnesses May Be Reason for Growing Numbers in Hospital Stays…

Here’s another contributing factor as to why reported hospitalizations have increased:

Per updated (10/6) HHS guidelines, patients occupying “Observation” beds (>8hrs) are now included in Hospital admission totals.

They were not counted as admissions in July’s guidelines…

In addition to the new reporting guidelines, CMS also issued new rules, including severe financial penalties for hospitals who fail to report all required data.

cms.gov/files/document…

Add this to the Remdesivir FDA approval on 10/22 which made it the first and only FDA approved #COVID tx (and requires a 3-10 day hospital stay–see tweet)

AND

CMS waiving the Utilization Review process which ensures medical necessity of admissions…

In short, Oct saw 3 admin changes that contribute to an increase in reported hosps:

1. Expanded definition of “Covid hospitalization” (10/6)

2. Introduction of severe reporting non-compliance penalties for hosps (10/6)

3. Remdesivir FDA approval (10/22)

#contextmatters

Links to sources:

July HHS reporting guidelines nabh.org/wp-content/upl…

Updated October HHS reporting guidelines: hhs.gov/sites/default/…

CMS Utilization Review waiver cms.gov/files/document…

I linked the wrong article in the second tweet, but the point stands. (It happens)

Here’s the correct one, if interested. It;s an explainer on the penalties. The link to the primary source in #2 is correct: